Song for a Sea Lady
by InazumaFrost
Summary: Pearl lived her whole life seeing humans as insignificant. All she really needed was the Crystal Gems and an Earth to protect. However, a new factor has entered her life, which might be the start of a new perspective for her. After all, not all humans can claim to have caught her undivided attention. StarBird (PearlxGreg) AU.
1. An Unlikely Musician

An Unlikely Musician

Greg was in his own universe. Whenever he took the stage, he always lived what he sang, never once doubting that he was truly among the galaxies in the cosmos. His latest single, "Comet", had been a hit with his rather limited fanbase, and thus he would play it to close all of his shows. Today, it was a remote town on the State of Delmarva, the one and only Beach City, with one and only one attendant. He did not let this stop him though, and thus with the warm summer breeze behind him, lustrous skies above and the pure sands on the ground, he rocked on till he had finished his selection. He finally had a chance to take an actual look at his unitary audience, all the way back in the last row of seats he had hastily placed. A tall yet small, pale figure was clapping slowly at him, almost forcedly so. Regardless, he took to the mic one last time despite the sweat coming from the awkward situation:

"Thanks for coming everybody, I'm Mr. Universe. If you like what you just heard check out our merch table! My manager Marty can hook you up with CDs, and T-shirts- oh wait, he's not there. I guess I'm going over there now." _Fat chance of her coming here though_ , he muttered as he went to said table, before noticing that the figure he saw was indeed coming. Her face looked confused but also stern, but most noticeable was the… pearl protruding from her forehead. Never in his tours, nor in his crazy youth years, and much less any musicians he met had he seen such a head decoration. It seems like it was embedded into her head, as if it were a part of her. Despite that, she was easy on the eyes since the rest of her just seemed to complement said pearl, with a soft peach short hair, light blue eyes, and a thin yet firm and balanced figure, though she could really do without the leg warmers and the frowning face. She then picked one of the CDs on their first small conversation:

"Space Train to the Cosmos?" she interrogated, with a slight smirk on her face.

"Yeah" Greg replied before singing its jingle "One-way ticket and I'm ready to ri~ide!".

"Well that's just silly" the Pearl Lady derided at him, placing a hand on her hip, "Humans have no way to return from space."

"Return?"

"Return… to Earth I mean."

 _It always leads to this_ , Greg thought to himself, and leaned back in his chair,

"I'm never coming back."

"But isn't this your home? How will you survive in the midst of outer space, or in another planetoid unfitting for biologic life?"

 _But never to this_ , Greg thought, confused by the logical yet misguided response from the Pearl Lady. He noticed that she took a closer look towards the CD she held, so in an attempt to recover the conversation, he took the initiative:

"Uhhh… you want that? You can have it."

"Huh?" She looked at him confused once again, but this time with some curiosity.

"Oh, and it comes with a free T-Shirt!" He added, proud of himself for rescuing a seemingly lost cause. He then pulled out a shirt about 2 sizes too large for her. He really should have expected a wider range today. "You'll probably need a smaller one… I've got an extra small in my van! Stay right there!"

Greg sprinted towards his van, and he was greeted with an… interesting scene. Marty was inside the van with a girl he had never seen before. Most notably, her hair was shaped like an onion, though he could not bother to recall which kind. She was dressed up in the usual rebel clothes of the time, spiky, black jacket and torn jeans. Barely a moment had passed when Marty started talking:

"Starchild! Meet Vidalia".

 _Oh, that kind of onion._

"Nice van. Really living the high life." She followed up dryly.

"So, how was the show?" Marty inquired.

"It was great!" Greg replied, not sure if he was giving the honest answer. "One person showed up… Oh! I've to give her this free t-… shirt."

 _Wait, where did the Mystery Lady go? She was here just a minute ago…_

Greg had no time to attend to his thoughts as Marty raised his voice:

"Greg! You can't give stuff away for free! What about my 75 percent? 75 percent of nothing is nothing. Are YOU worth nothing?"

"No…"

"That's right. I'm gonna make us both rich, and as far as the saltwater saps know, we already are. So let's live it up before we hit the road, alright? Next stop, Empire City!"

No sooner had those words left his mouth, Marty went off to places unknown with Vidalia. Greg knew Marty well enough to know where he was going, and from past experience, hanging out with Marty at this hour was not really his favorite scenario.

"Y'know, I'll catch up with you later…"

Besides, she was still stuck on her mind. He promised a free t-shirt, and he was not a man of empty promises. Thus he began his search for the small pale lady.

* * *

Pearl bolted out of the show after realizing what was going on at that concert. This was her first extended interaction alone with a human in many years, and one of very few in well over 5,000 years. Despite living on Earth and protecting them for such a long time, Pearl never quite understood humans and she tried to limit any unnecessary interaction with them. Her natural curiosity prevented her from fully doing so though, remembering when she drew a map for an explorer a couple of centuries ago, or her involvement in the foundation of the nation they now stood on.

The same thing happened tonight with "Mr. Universe", though it was also some amount of pity towards the null audience he had attracted. Despite her connoisseurship of music, she found the songs to be actually somewhat tasteful, and her actual interaction with the man was peculiar… but nice. She could say the same about Mr. Universe himself.

Though why would she run away due to the prompt of a t-shirt was beyond even her.

Pearl had eventually made her way back to the temple, not risking any interaction with any human that could make her feel strange. As she was about to enter her room, a purple owl appeared. _Amethyst has been playing around with shapeshifting once more it seems._ She always cheery, but today her wide eyes, the fast movement of her wings and her raised eyebrows seemed to indicate something had happened. She latched onto her arm and began her report:

"Pearl! This long haired human was talking to me over by the fence!"

How had Mr. Universe followed her all the way back to the temple, she did not know. Had he traced her steps? Did he catch her running towards the temple?

" _He_ spoke to you?"

"Well, he was a dude, yeah. How did you know anyways? Wait, that would explain why he was talking about someone very much like you!" She then turned her head completely, and noted "Look, there he is!"

She turned her sights towards the entrance of the grotto, noticing the familiar human who was appreciating their home before noticing their sights turned towards him.

"Yo."

Amethyst flew towards Universe, bumping her wings with Pearl's face in the act. Pearl was unnerved once she realized Amethyst was shapeshifting into her real form, startling the human. She proceeded to crawl around him while inspecting him, "It's YOU! I've never seen this one around here… Aww… I really like your hair!" She said as she nested under his unkempt hair before pulling up his shirt. Feeling some pity for the human once again, she snatched Amethyst before she could continue her intrusion, "Amethyst! Leave him be! Oh, I'm very sorry about this, ummm… Universe." Suddenly, the cave became illuminated by a light behind her. Garnet came through the Warp Pad, with two bubbled gems above her hands. Greg could not hold his awe.

"Woaah"

"Pearl, Amethyst, you're with a human". She was surprised by this turn of events, and judging by her stern voice it was not in a good way.

"He followed me over the fence!" Amethyst explained, apparently oblivious to Garnet's tone.

"What should we do?" Pearl wondered aloud.

"State your purpose." Garnet said. Her eyes were covered by her visor, but Pearl could feel the daggers towards the human from her stare. She was not prepared for what was to come though.

"Uhhh… I was kinda looking for… her." He stuttered looking at Pearl.

 _Wait what?_

She could not comprehend why he would come looking for her, but her thoughts were interrupted by Amethyst's biggest, most idiotic grin she had delivered since they met her.

 _Oh my stars not now._

"Woah-oh-oahh, Pearl. What were you doing with a _hu_ ~ _man?_ " she teased without a sign of restraint on her voice. The blue on her cheeks now extended to most of her face as she started a battle she could NOT win, "I was… walking on the beach and then I saw him playing music on a stage and well…" Amethyst's grin was even more teasing, and Greg's follow-up did not exactly help:

" _No one can ignore the Universe_ ", he said as he slipped his hair and striked some sort of pose. Before her hole could possibly grow deeper, she attempted to switch plans:

"Garnet! Shouldn't humans stay at the other side of the fence as indicated?!"

Alas, Garnet could only smirk in anticipation. What a team.

"Why did you come looking for me, Mr. Universe?" Pearl tried to firmly inquire, doing her best to revert the cyan on her face.

"Oh, just call me Greg. I brought you this. It's the free t-shirt that came with the free CD!"

 _Oh… Right,_ she thought to herself as she received the gift. "Thank you," she said to him, quiet and somewhat nervous. Confused, her face blushed a light blue. The silence continued until a young voice broke the ice:

"Hey, play something music man!" she requested.

"Better make it good" Garnet followed as she summoned her gauntlets.

"Ah man, I'm working on this awesome new set, it's gonna kill at my next show! Next show… …Aw jeez, what time is it?

"Night… time?" Pearl guessed.

"Yeah, Marty's probably looking for me. We're supposed to hit the road… Big show in a big city… and I did not dropout of community college for nothing!"

…

"What?"

"Okay! I'll see you later!" Greg said as he began to run off. He stopped for a moment just turn around and add "Uh, I hope the stars will align for us to meet again!".

"But the location of the stars has no bearing of what may happen in the future!" Pearl retorted. Greg just giggled to himself, after which Amethyst waved "Bye, music man!" With that, Greg waved one last time and bolted away from the temple. Once he was out of sight, Amethyst could not keep her amazement at this turn of events quiet.

"Pearl, heh heh. I'd never believe what I just saw if I wasn't here. Music man really liked you!"

"Oh hush, Amethyst," Pearl huffed "don't say such absurd things".

Amethyst was still chuckling when she went back to the temple, while Garnet was laughing to herself while proceeding to hers. _Well I'm glad that's over with,_ Pearl thought to herself before turning around and going to her room, when suddenly she heard a soft voice.

"It seems we are all surprised."

Recognizing the voice behind her as that of Rose Quartz, her liege, she turned around to the vision of her beauty... with an added teasing expression.

 _Here we go again._

"Rose! You heard all of that?! Why did you not come to help?"

"I'm sorry, but watching you interact and talk with a human without my help is something I haven't seen in decades, and I couldn't miss the chance."

Pearl sighed, as she understood that Rose would indeed prefer to not interfere in an admittedly rare occurrence.

"I'm genuinely impressed though, you actually sought out a human event."

"I was just being polite; he was playing to nobody."

"Oh, first time for everything it seems."

Speechless, Pearl blushed again. Noticing this, Rose continued:

"I believe it's wonderful, and he really seemed to like you. Hopefully the stars shall align for you two someday, I know I'll be looking forward to it."

"Th-That's not how it works…"

"True, but that shirt would look cute on you." Rose teased before going to her room, leaving Pearl alone to reflect on what just happened while having the deepest shade of blue on her face yet.

* * *

"Man, Greg, you really missed out. Vidalia's friends were wild and crazy. Glad this town wasn't a total waste."

Back at the road, Greg could not stop thinking about the Gems. He could not put his finger on it, but he knew this could be part of something far bigger than he ever imagined himself in, yet fame was right ahead of him. He decided to humor Marty by talking about them.

"I met some wild ladies too. They changed shape and appeared out of beams of light."

The conversation continued until the Marty decided to play something on the radio. He pressed the button to no response. He tried again till he got exasperated, and took it out on Greg:

"Hey, what's jammed in your tape deck? You been putting pennies in here, you weirdo? Play something for me, Star Child."

Seeing this as an opportunity to rehearse a bit his new song, Greg obediently strummed the guitar as he sang. Not two lines had he chanted when Marty interrupted:

"Snooore! You're gonna put people to sleep with that. Where's the schlock coming from?"

"I just can't stop thinking about the woman on the show."

Marty teased Greg, though unlike the gems his taunt seemed almost malicious.

"Oh here we go, how big was she?"

"Actually, she was not very big. Tall yes, but pretty small, with beautiful cyan eyes…"

"See? You're finally making sense! You could have multiple smaller women instead of just a Big one.

 _He missed the point as always,_ though interestingly she was indeed the first woman Greg had been impressed by that was not at least a foot taller than him.

"Ugh, Marty, women are people."

"Just follow my lead. I'm gonna get you _everything you want_ "

For a moment, Greg thought about the gems. The small shapeshifter, energetic and very fun to be around, even if she could be overbearing. The tall lady of the beam of light, stoic but genuine, she looked funny when she grinned. And most importantly, the Pearl lady. Even when she was nervous or annoyed, she carried an air of grace and elegance around her. Probably even blunter than the… Garnet, they called her, she had a charm all of her own in her logic. He could not stop thinking about her cyan eyes, clear as a starlit sea… and the cutest blush he ever saw, pure and blue as the summer sky.

He had a chance of spending his time with these ladies. Probably many could have a chance at making it rich and famous, he was hardly the first one just this year. However, has anyone ever been friends with people he could only describe as magic? Has anyone had a close relationship with people who blushed blue? Has anyone in this world even had this new chance? To be with such a special woman and love her even for a minute?

"What if I want to go back?"

"WHAT?"

"What if I want to go back and be with her?"

Marty was probably not amused by this turn of events, seeing that he left the steering wheel to rant at Greg.

"No one cares about your feelings Greg! They're making you lose sight of what's really important!"

Of course, there is nothing quite as important as self-preservation, which Marty clearly lost sight of as the lights of a truck flashed before them.

"WATCH THE ROAD!"

Marty turned around and saw a giant trailer a few meters in front of them. Both of them could probably see their life flash before them as Marty swerved away from the road and almost into a nearby billboard. Greg was hugging his guitar tightly, recovering from what could have been his last moments, when he spoke up again:

"Why do you always decide what's important?"

"Because I'm your manager and you're just some spaced out kid. I'm taking you to the city, and you're gonna play, and you're gonna like it. Maybe you'll even make me some money for once."

 _Well, the gems it is then,_ Greg thought as a fuse long forgotten finally blew off.

"Get out of my van."

"Sit down, Greg"

"I said GET OUTTA MY VAN!"

He proceeded to force Marty out the door in a fit of anger. Marty tried to sway him into reconsidering, but it was too late. Greg was driving back towards Beach city.

"For a new life." he whispered to himself.

* * *

Pearl had been tending to the fountains in her room, still thinking about Rose's words and today's events. This was one of the most confusing days in her long existence, having interacted with human culture and attracting a human to her. He already knew how attraction worked, considering she had seen Rose's lovers throughout the eras. Never once had any human shown something remotely similar to that towards her.

She also knew from Rose's lovers that it was a pointless endeavor. Humans live such short lives after all, and desperately have a need to form part of something bigger. Rose would play with them, sometimes even develop some amount of affection, but eventually all relationships ended either with Rose getting tired or the human leaving due to one reason or another.

She concluded she shouldn't really bother with such trivialities, when suddenly there was a loud, repeated knock at the door. Pearl was very much surprised by this: they hadn't anyone knocking at that door since the fence was placed around the temple, and even before then it was mostly knocked for cases of an emergency. The gems simply enter their rooms, and so she was baffled as to what could be making that noise… until she heard _his_ voice.

"Hey, are you in there? I can play for you now! I even revamped my awesome set!"

 _What is he doing here?!_ She had no idea what to do as Greg, despite being a human following her, did not annoy her. Maybe he led to a few awkward situations, but he was a very decent person. However, he was just a human and she was already sworn to Rose, even if she had made her preference clear. He had dreams on his short life, he had almost no time to accomplish them, and he was stuck taking interest on her.

"This one's for you, Mystery Woman!" She heard, interrupting her train of thought. _At least I should humor him,_ she said to herself as he heard the strum of the guitar.

 _Do you believe in destiny? / Close your eyes and leave the rest to me._

The melody was good. The lyrics were pretty nice too.

 _Do you believe in fantasy? / I have to when it's right in front of me._

This was Pearl's fifth blush in one evening.

 _Oh, what are you doing here, / in the real world?_

Pearl would have probably said something about defending the Earth, but she was almost enchanted by now.

 _What are you doing here? / So close I could touch you._

Her mind came back to the real world as she realized what was going on. She could not let this continue.

 _What are you doing here? / And what are you doing to me?_

She opened the door and revealed herself to Greg, who was kneeling on the floor.

"Ah! You're wearing the… shirt." Rose's words had convinced her of trying it on. It fell all the way to her short leggings, but if Rose said it might look cute on her then she was not going to doubt it, and at the very least it was very comfortable. Her expression on the other hand, was not as comfortable. She had eyes closed halfway, and a firm frown. She cut directly to the chase:

"Could you just go away?"

"I'm sorry, did I-?" Greg staggered a bit.

"You're a good musician, and you're not bad for a human, but your life is short and insignificant, which you should waste on something else. Don't you have dreams you want to follow?"

"Well that's gonna be a problem." Greg bowed his head, his face invisible due to the shadow of his hair.

"… Why?"

And his eyes shined with unending determination; "You're my dream to follow!"

Pearl could only stare, awestruck at Greg. At that moment she could not find any words for what just happened, and she could not bring herself to try sending him away again.

So she just laughed with Greg, nervous but somewhat happy about what would the future would bring with him.

* * *

 **Author here, thanks for reading the first chapter of my first fanfiction! All constructive feedback is welcome, and I hope you enjoyed reading this adaptation of "Story for Steven". Most of the chapters of this fanfic will be original stories (or as original as you can make a shipfic AU nowadays), with adaptations of "We Need to Talk" and "Greg the Babysitter" in between. I hope you enjoy this wild ride with me!**

 **Again, thanks for reading! Reviews highly appreciated.**

 **-InazumaFrost**

 **AN: Woah, I did not expect almost 100 visitors within less than 24 hours of posting this story. I don't know if this is normal or even below average for standards, but thanks!**

 **Anyways, I guess I should make something clear: I will continue this story, I already have most of the stories I plan to tell with this AU set in semi-solid stone. However, it might take a while due to a variety of factors:**

 **1\. As many other authors, I have a pretty busy life outside this site, even if it is currently mostly dedicated to studying.**

 **2\. This specific chapter might have had this decent level of polish, but remember: most of the framework for it was established by the actual show writers since this is an adaptation of "Story for Steven". While I did have to get creative with it at some points, such as Greg's and Pearl's thoughts and reactions as well as some of the narration, the next chapters will have me, a novice fanfic writer, trying to create original stories that make sense, are in character, have a decent plot progression and have some character development. They will also need some believable dialogue, and I cannot just leave Rose, Garnet and Amethyst on the sidelines: they all play important roles at some points in the story.**

 **Because of this, I will really need your feedback in the chapters to come: note any OoC (out of character) moments, awkward writing, or other problems in the story if you notice them. They will be really appreciated, and considered for future revisions and chapters. I really appreciate the comments that want more of the story, that really enjoyed this first chapter, but I will also need some feedback in future chapters to make sure this does not become a train-wreck with some shining chapters.**

 **If you read all the way here, then thanks for taking your time, and I hope you will follow my story as it evolves in the future.**

 **-InazumaFrost, StarBird Trash.**


	2. Two-Strings Duet

Two-String Duet

 _All right Pearl, focus… visualize the object… and begin!_

"Twooooh! Haaaaaah!"

As her gem shone, Pearl managed to summon a white blob from it, which slowly transformed into a fine, polished violin. She had been present for the first showing of the instrument centuries ago, and she was forever marveled at the finesse of it. From several decades' worth of practice with it she could be considered a maestro with the stringed instrument, but her audience was always limited to the other Crystal Gems. Today however, she was not only extending her audience, but also having her first ever human audience, and an esteemed musician at that: Greg Universe.

 _Oh, Greg…_

Pearl was still at a loss over yesterday's events. Why would a human, one in the path to fame and glory across the globe, suddenly turn back on the opportunity to immortalize himself for somebody he met one night? And why did she decide to entertain the human with the opportunity to draw closer to her? He had once again reduced his audience to a paltry number, and the possibility of turning back might have been forever lost to him. Most importantly though: _Just what convinced him that she was worth his whole life and his dreams?_ She was not a great leader like Rose Quartz, nor had she saved her life or spent months living along each other like Ruby and Sapphire. Was he just trying to pretend he is a part of a bigger story than other humans are limited to?

She decided to put these thoughts to rest as she continued to tune her instrument. She needed some practice, even if she knew the melody she composed as well as the chambers of the Gem temple. A short, elegant melody swept through the fountains, old as notation itself yet ever enchanting to the ear. She loved her song as much as she did millennia ago, ever evolving, ever improving from its simple origins, it served as a reminder of how she evolved alongside the Crystal Gems. As she reached the final notes of her theme, the voice of a rascal rang behind her.

"Hey P! You seem to be stuck in Music Planet once more."

Fumbling the last note due to the surprise at Amethyst's sudden intrusion, she remembered she had setup a trial audience and had all completely ignored them throughout the whole practice session. Rose just giggled, though she had her head sunk and arms on her midriff as if trying to hold back all-out laughter, Garnet just sat there, staring. Her face was stoic as she usually is, but Pearl could feel some pressure coming from her. Finally, Amethyst was snacking some chips she probably found a few weeks ago opened in the beach. At least they were paying attention, and thus Pearl asked what any performer would ask to a trial audience:

"How did I sound?"

"Overall it lacked a bit of… umm… how do you say this? Nothing! Well except for that last note, no idea what happened to you there, but otherwise it was really cool."

"It was good."

"Beautiful as always, Pearl."

Pearl flashed a big smile. She always felt proud of pleasing her friends and especially her liege, their praises filling her with confidence for today's "date" as Greg called it. She was more than happy to introduce him to her own music capabilities, a fair trade for the songs last night which she found to be pretty good, though the last song specifically still lingered on her thoughts:

 _Do you believe in Fantasy? / I have to when it's right in front of me._

* * *

One of the best parts of Greg's van was that it was able to completely block almost all light from entering while he slept. On his days off the road back when he was still going on tours, he could often stay in and sleep all day, even if it meant that Marty would scold him at night and force him to rehearse a few extra hours. On the other hand, it was late morning when Greg was still dreaming about Pearl, which eventually led him to relive the last moments of his first night in Beach City:

* * *

 _His song finished, his declaration concluded, they laughed in tandem for a bit. The mystery girl had a smile he never seen on anyone else before, shy and cute, with some of her characteristic delicate elegance. He knew could not just finish on such a note though, and proceeded to make his move._

" _Hey, if you really liked my music, I can play even more for you tomorrow at noon! An exclusive concert from Mr. Universe himself, how would you like that?"_

" _Well, now that you mentioned it, I think I might have a better idea, Greg."_

" _Oh yeah? What is it?"_

" _Well, I am a Gem of many talents, and you're not the only artist in this city."_

 _Greg was not expecting that, but he was not going to deny the Pearl Lady an opportunity to play music with him if that's what she meant. Hopefully._

" _Gotcha! I'll be looking forward to it… ummm… hey, what should I call you?"_

 _The woman in front of him giggled a bit, before giving her answer:_

" _Pearl" she said before retiring back into the door with a smile._

 _So that really was her name._

* * *

Wait…

"NOOOON!"

Realizing that the beauty of a comfy, dark van could be a curse, as well that sleeping at 4:25 A.M. was never a good idea to repeat, Greg leapt from his mattress. He gave a quick look towards the small clock at the front of his van, and realized to his horror that it was 11:00 A.M. With such a limited time to change clothes, plan some songs just in case she might wanted to play some with him, and try to fix his hair into his usual do, he knew that any wasted time could probably spell an early doom with a girl such as Pearl. He dashed towards a box in the corner of his vehicle, filled with identical black shirts with a star on them, and hastily put the first one he could grab on him.

"Let's see, 'One Way Ticket'? Nah, that one's probably too metal. 'Let Me Drive my Van into your Heart'? Definitely. Take 'Comet' and 'What Are You Doing Here', as well. Skip 'Solar Flare', 'Passionate Alien', and 'Nebula'. Let's see, we can do a decent harmony here… a duet in this one would not be a bad idea… oh! I hope this arrangement for two of 'Let Me Drive my Van into your Heart' I wrote a while back actually works… OH DEAR IT'S 11:55!"

He barely had time to apply some gel to his wild hair, a measure only used in desperate situations like this. Fortunately, when he bolted out of the van at 11:58 A.M, he remembered that he had parked his van pretty much in front of the fence of the home of the Gems as he climbed over it as he was getting used to. He had considered completely smashing it with his van, but the gems were probably not going to appreciate the disaster it could cause. Once he arrived at the Gem home, he saw Pearl in front of him, alongside a giant woman he had never seen before. She was pretty impressive, having curly pink hair and a beautiful white dress. He noticed that she fitted his usual type, but by this point Pearl had taken over most of his thoughts and simply did not let go. Regardless, he went straight away to greet Pearl and the giant woman.

"Pearl! Good morning to you!"

"Hello Greg, I believe you're yet to meet my liege. This is Rose Quartz, and Rose, this is Greg Universe."

 _Liege? What have I gotten myself into?_

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Greg."

"Nice to meet you too, Rose."

Rose smiled and seemed to whisper something to Pearl along the lines of "yo... .n ..our own n…" which caused Pearl to get slightly flustered, after which she talked again to Greg:

"Well, I'll leave you two for today, have fun in your concert Pearl!" Rose said before disappearing through the same device that had spawned "Garnet" last night, after which they started walking towards, talking all the while.

 _Oh boy, where do I start?_

"Your liege?" Greg wondered aloud. He was familiar with the term from the few Medieval history books and novels he had read, but he never though anyone would use it nowadays outside a play or movie. Pearl's answer, however, was even more surprising:

"Yes, Greg. Rose Quartz is the leader of the Crystal Gems, and I am her knight. _Millennia ago,_ we arrived here on Earth and decided to stay and become its protectors. That might also explain to you the Warp Pad you saw Rose and Garnet use I hope."

 _What._

It all sounded like it came out from one of his songs: They came from space, yet they decided to stay here. They have lived for longer than any human if they are to be believed, and they have technology that, if it is anything like the comics he had been reading, can warp space to travel long distances in seconds. And yet they all looked and acted like they were no more than 30 years old in the case of Rose, and probably less than 20 for the rest.

 _This is one heck of a ride I've gotten myself into._

Then again, it probably was what he wished for when he came back: A unique life.

"Woah! That must've been one crazy life you've had so far!"

"Well yes, you could call it a "crazy life" by your standards." Pearl responded.

"So, what was the idea you talked about yesterday?"

"I'm glad you asked. I consider myself to be well versed in the art of music, and since you presented a fine display yesterday, I decided that for today's… meeting, I should return the favor with my own performance."

 _Oh, so she's also a musician!_ Greg's eyes seemed to shine like small sparkles, fascinated by this discovery. However, there was something bugging him about what she just said:

"No way, you can sing?!"

Pearl just smiled and continued her introduction:

"I guess you could say that, but it's not my specialty. Instead, I was thinking of an instrumental solo concert."

Now he was just confused further. Pearl had no instrument in her hand, no case, and even if she could somehow store a theoretical small instrument in some pocket, her top, leggings and leg warmers ( _she still uses them? In the beach?!)_ ensured that was not the case. There was no place she could be hiding any practical instrument he knew of. They eventually reached a point in the peninsula of the temple, somewhat far from it but not too close to the water. It was the perfect place to enjoy the summer sun and breeze, as Greg settled down on the sand.

"So, I was meaning to ask, were you meaning to borrow my guitar? Since you mentioned you were using an instrument and, well, you don't have any?"

Pearl just stared at him in silence, until she seemed to recall something which caused her to blush slightly. She quickly recovered her composure though, and shut her eyes as she smirked:

"Oh, Greg; there's a lot you don't know about us gems."

Before Greg could think about what could that mean, Pearl opened her eyes, and what happened next was… confusing. First thing he knew, Pearl turned her back on him, crouched and jumped while turning around, staying in a pose akin to a frightened seagull, before she exclaimed a strange voice:

"Twooooh!"

She then performed a small dance which ended with her on a pose which had her body lowered to her left, one leg extended and one bent, with her hands surrounding her gem as she chanted once more:

"Haaaaaah!"

With this exclamation, her gem began to shine as it produced a sort of white orb, which instantly transformed into the finest, most polished violin Greg had seen in his whole life. The proportions were perfect, the violin shone enough to stand out, but not quite to the point where it could be used as a blinding weapon, while the bow and strings looked as new as they could be. He was still admiring the instrument's craftsmanship when Pearl rose her voice

"The violin has been my faithful companion ever since your kind mastered the bowed strings, and I have perfected my technique for the last three centuries: Today you will have the privilege to be an audience to a concert of the ages!"

 _She's even got her showmanship nailed down._ The only doubt left was whether she would be able to back her talk, as she raised the wooden instrument to her chin, her bow to the strings and closed her eyes to focus:

The first few seconds of her melody were enough to make Greg forget his surroundings for a moment: each note was timed and measured perfectly so as to increase the impact of each of these, and together they flowed as they were required to do so. Sometimes he could picture a peaceful stream as her delicate movements flowed seamlessly into each other, creating anything from a sorrowful requiem to a dreamy sonata. At the next moment, she would create a waterfall as her style switched without missing a beat into a majestic cyclone, creating a violent movement or a joyful impromptu. He had already heard many of these pieces while he was studying musical theory, yet none of them were played with the precision or emotion that Pearl put into these. She was even able to play the Ysaye Ballad solo, one of the most technical pieces Greg knew of in any instrument without losing her composure or missing any notes. Once she had finished this first selection of songs, she lowered her instruments, opened her eyes for the first time this whole time, and took a small bow. Greg could not believe what he just heard or saw. He clapped, even though he did not know if it was enough congratulations towards the single best musician he had ever seen. His thoughts were interrupted by Pearl's soft voice:

"Thanks, how did I sound?"

"It was fantastic! I've never seen such a perfect technique on a musician ever before!"

Pearl gave another bow with a smile on her face, before positioning her violin once again. _There's more?!_

"It seemed as if you recognized some of the songs I just played. But now, I shall play my own compositions if you please."

With stars on his eyes, he was only able to reply with a soft yet excited voice:

"Please do go on."

Closing her eyes once more, this portion was much shorter than the former, as it consisted of three songs:

The common theme between the first two songs was an elegant sound that would transition into a lively tune. The first tune did not even clock in at a minute, but it somehow managed to have some hints of ragtime and swing music in a violin piece… yet he noticed how some of the notes could probably be supported by another instrument. As soon as this melody ended, she transitioned into a fast-paced song which would not be out of place in a fast dance or a duel in a movie. Once again, while the song was incredible, he noticed it could very much do with a sort of extra. Her performance was perfect, but these pieces seemed incomplete.

The last tune started slow and continued that way, and while the elegance was still there, it seemed to be more emotional and reflective. It was a nostalgic piece, as if it stored memories of someone she knows. Again, the performance was perfect, but his time, Greg could not help himself. He pulled out his guitar and started to map out chords while Pearl played:

 _C to E7, then F to G, pretty simple._

 _Same thing, but a bit softer._

 _Repeat the first two chords, but transition into Bb7 and A7_

 _and then we end with F to Fm, then G to G7._

He was barely finishing to map these when she heard Pearl clear her throat. _Whoops._

"Greg, I trust you are paying attention to what I prepared for today."

"I am! Sorry about that, but can I ask you to repeat that melody you just played? I just had a great idea!"

* * *

Pearl looked at him with some distrust at first, but then raised her instrument once more. As she closed her eyes and began to play, she heard a harmony in tune with her melody. She liked the sound of this new version of the song she had composed for Rose, and followed suit to what was undoubtedly Greg's music. It was still a bit rusty, being his first time playing the song, but she admired the sincerity in his style of performing. It also gave her some liberty to play with the notes in her song which led to a small margin of error. Yet when they had finished, she knew that her oldest song had just been improved by the addition of a new factor into the equation.

"Greg… how did you figure out a harmony so quickly?"

Greg laid down and begun to narrate a bit:

"You know, when I was younger, I was always assigned to harmony roles in school bands or performances. I never enjoyed being in the sidelines, and thus I tried long and hard to be the rock star I wanted to be. I never really got a starring role in any group performance, but as I grew I realized that once you learn how to follow a melody, composing a song became a matter of just finding a good progression and then applying your own notes."

Pearl found it hard to believe that a performer who could carry a song on his own would ever had trouble leading a melody. Then she realized that compared to her own, his songs were mostly harmony instrumentally while the melody was carried by his voice. They were created to take advantage of his difficulty at creating at creating a melody him to play and instead focused on a strong harmony to his voice.

"Well, you seem to be a solo act as well, Greg. I wonder if you ever composed a song meant to be played by two?"

"Actually, I brought two songs that you're yet to hear, but I think they could be improved with an extra voice or instrument if you're up for it. Wanna give it a try?"

"It would be an honor, Greg." For the first time, she saw Greg truly blush, even if it was a bit. _It was cute and satisfying to see the tables turned for once on him, I should probably try that every once in a while._

The rest of the afternoon was dedicated to perfecting two songs on duet. The first song they tried was one of Greg's first songs, "Let me Drive my Van into your Heart". It was considerably shorter than "Comet", but it still had a bit of the space theme that characterized him. This duet focused on having both the violin and the guitar serve as a double harmony to the main voice, with Greg's guitar focusing on stronger, lower parts, while Pearl's violin focused on a high and soft accompaniment to emphasize the melody. The two combined led to a harmony that supported the melody of the lyrics while having a huge musical range.

The second one was an extremely different though. It had nothing to do with space, it was hardly "rock" at all, and was very different in tone to the song Greg dedicated to her at the temple.

"I wrote this before I even tried to test my luck at stardom, mostly to help me through a slog I went through after dropping out from college. It reminded me that there could be so much more to life than simply making money, and it is one of my shorter ones."

"You don't seem to have a harmony notation for this one though, so why do you consider it a duet?"

"Oh! I think a gave you the guitar sheet. Here, take this one."

Pearl scanned the piece of paper Greg gave to her. This song only seemed to have one note played at a time, which should make it easy… until she noticed the lyrics and movements on each note. It was no instrumental duet it seems.

"W-wait, you want me to sing this with you?"

"Well, you said you could do it, even if it is not your specialty. It should be fine though, and we can practice it as much as we want if you don't get it right at first."

"… Alright, let's see how this goes."

The song called for the alto voice to initiate the song while following the main vocal melody. It then transitioned into a duet with the medium voice following the lyrical melody, while the alto went into a high harmony. It then switched between the two voices for different verses, until it culminated in a reprise of the opening, with the medium initiating and the melody being given to the alto. Since there's no time like the present, Pearl began to practice her part right away:

 _Bright sunny day, / Don't cost nothing._

 _Light summer breeze, / Don't cost nothing._

 _What do I do / With all this money?_

 _When the only thing I want is you?_

 _And the tables turn on me yet again,_ she thought as her face heated up with blue, something that Greg seemed to have noticed as he giggled at her. She was not entertained with that though.

"What are you laughing at? Greg! Don't tease me like that!" After which she shoved him playfully, strongly enough to make him move a bit, though he just kept on laughing. "Seriously, we need to finish this song Greg, even if it is somewhat embarrassing."

She got over that quickly enough though, and by the time night fell, the song combined Pearl's high and powerful voice with Greg's energetic medium voice for a truly beautiful duet.

When they had finished practicing the duet for the night, they sat down on the white sands and spoke a bit before leaving:

"Greg, I've been meaning to ask you something."

"Ask away."

"Why did you decide to stay here?"

"Heh, you already know it: You're my dream to follow!"

"Well then, another question: Why am I worthy of being your dream? Why was I worth sacrificing everything you wanted prior to last night?"

"Oh, Pearl… Well, any youth with some talent, luck and practice can make it big in this world. They can become rich and famous, and have their name known all over the globe. However, all of them seem to eventually fall. I do not know how does it happen or for what reason, but in a few years, months, or even weeks, the fame and fortune disappears or becomes irrelevant and useless. I knew very well that's what could happen to me in a few years, especially with the manager I had."

"Wait, is that why you said…"

" _I'll crash like a comet,_ yeah. It was a bad long term plan, but it was the only one I had I could maybe enjoy with my music. And I'll admit that this plan might not be the best in the long run either."

"So why did you decide I was your dream?"

"Because if my destiny is to eventually crash down for any reason, then I'm glad it will be with the cutest, most interesting and lovable person I've ever met."

 _Oh my Stars._

As her face boiled and flooded with cyan, Pearl was still unsure of what to make of this: Greg was by far the most pleasant and interesting human she had met in her long existence, and she was perfectly fine with having him as a close friend to play music with and talk a lot. He made human culture far more interesting to her than she ever thought she would. However, Greg was crossing into the same territory Pearl had over five thousand years ago. Five thousand years ago, Pearl knew that neither staying with Homeworld nor with Rose were safe options. Both paths could end with her shattered, or both could end well. She quickly decided to stay and fight for her liege and they eventually won the war, but this closed her gates to far away worlds she missed, doomed many of her dear friends, and she had to face a harsh reality that she eventually understood: Rose made her interests clear time and time again, falling in love with human men while she was still around. Seeing how this cycle never ended, Pearl eventually accepted that she would never have the full relationship she wished to have with Rose.

Tonight, Pearl was Rose Quartz, and Greg was her young and naïve self over 5000 years ago, even if the stakes were not nearly as high. And she was unsure of what to do. But at least she could smile at the compliments.

"Greg, thanks."

"Huh?"

"Thanks for playing music with me today. If it's not too much to ask, can we do this regularly?"

If there was one thing Pearl found cute about Greg, it was that magical shine in his eye that appeared whenever he was determined or joyful. If all humans could show such happiness, then she might have understood why Rose loved them unconditionally. She giggled at his flustered face while he tried to reply:

"Y-yes, I'll be living on my van close to here, so I'll try to visit every day!"

"Well, maybe not every day. I still have missions to go with my teammates or alone, but you're welcome to visit to the temple any time."

"Oh, ok, I understand that. I hope I'll see you tomorrow at least."

"I do hope so too. Well then, farewell Greg."

"Ok, I'll see you later!" Greg said as he waved and raced off to the other side of the fence. Meanwhile, Pearl walked back towards the temple, where she saw a tall, reddish figure.

"Hey Pearl."

"Hi Garnet, how did today's mission go?"

"We were able to neutralize the monster wreaking havoc in the Strawberry Field. How was your mission?" Garnet said while flashing her famous smirk.

"So apparently that counts as a mission now. Well, I'd say it was a success, my presentation was flawless, and we managed to perfect a few duets. And he might be coming here very often, so we'll have to get used to him."

"Well, I'd say you already did".

"-! G-Garnet!"

"Relax, I'm not one to judge. Besides, I think it'll be interesting to see how things go from here. Well, see you."

With that, Garnet began to make her way towards her room, but not before adding some last words:

"Oh! Pearl, there's one more thing I have to mention!"

"… what is it Garnet?"

"…Seems like we are back a bit over 5000 years into ago, doesn't it?"

With that, she disappeared into her room.

Garnet's words clearly had the intent of making Pearl remember something she was forgetting about that day. She thought alone in the stars for a long while, until she remembered an important fact: Rose never really had to make a choice, as Pearl chose her. And today, this was not Pearl's choice to make. Greg had already made up his mind and nothing she could ever do would change that. Besides, at worst, they become good friends for some time while at best… well, she did not know what could be the best outcome for both…

But she nothing was going to stop her from trying to discover it, and then achieve it.

* * *

 **And here it is! The second chapter of this story. I hope you guys enjoyed it. Some things I want to say:**

 **1\. The story format will chapter-based: each one will begin a new mini story separate from any other, but character development and important events will form an important part in future chapters.**

 **2\. This is the first ever original story I published in a fanfic. While it took me under a day to write the first chapter and a few hours to edit it, this chapter had been in the works for about 6 days prior, and while I am proud of it (at least, at the time of publishing), I can understand that it could turn out to have a few flaws. This is mostly because the person I know personally who provided the feedback for chapter 1 had a lot of things to take care of, and thus this chapter only has my own moderation and edition. So it is entirely possible that I might have made some critical errors at some point. As always, your feedback is highly appreciated, especially now that I'm going deep into Original stories, having to create dialogues from the ground up and stuff.**

 **3\. Just to say that I really thank you for reading this far, and I hope you have a great day. Next chapter should be coming out this week or the next! And thank you for your continued support.**

 **-InazumaFrost**


	3. Jam Session

Jam Session

 _And as the solar wind blows through my hair, / knowing I have so much more left to share_

 _A wandering spirit who's tearing its way through the cold atmosphere_

 _I'll fly like a comet / Soar like a comet_

 _Crash like a comet / I'm just a comet_

"Woah, you actually nailed that part. I'm impressed Pearl!"

"Why, thank you Greg, I do try my best, even if it did take 12 attempts."

She wasn't kidding, most of the time her notes here rang too high for the song at hand.

A few days had passed by since Greg first introduced Pearl to the world of duets, and so far they had perfected an electric guitar-violin version of Pearl's first composition, their voice duet of "Don't cost nothing", and finished up on the notes of "Let Me Drive my Van into your Heart". Today's project was a guitar solo and voice duet arrangement of "Comet", thanks to Pearl's insistence. It had taken the whole afternoon to make it work though, and there was something about it that still felt missing.

"Greg, I recall when you played this song that despite only having a guitar, I still could hear some percussion and sounds that were not meant to be played by a guitar. How did you manage to perform those?

"Oh, well my manager thought that a one-man act would not be able to appeal to people, so he insisted that I had to record and mix extra instruments whenever I wrote a new song. The catch was that Marty had the rights to those recordings. I don't know what he might be doing with those, but the matter is, I cannot recreate those tracks until my things get to the storage I bought".

"Well that's a shame, but I will be looking forward to their arrival."

"With that said, I was thinking about doing something different tomorrow anyways."

Pearl had begun to genuinely enjoy spending time with Greg, even when it was just relaxing on the beach throughout what he called his "Creative Droughts". He was fun to be around, was cute when teased properly, and had a chaotic approach to music in contrast to her precise style, which led to interesting discussions and creating some of the best music she ever heard.

However, from what she saw from some of Rose's dates with other men, most of their ideas were… alien to Pearl. Most of them involved some sort of eating, the thought of which made her retch with disgust, while other ideas were morally questionable for the leader of the Crystal Gems, even more so to her knight. There was a chance she would enjoy whatever he planned though, and if all else failed then they could just relax wait until his instruments arrived.

 _C'mon Pearl, you have nothing to lose here._

"…Alright, I'm listening."

* * *

"Let's see… basket and blanket? Check. Plates and cutlery? Check. Toast and Jam? Check. Daunting climb towards the top of the temple cliff while carrying the following? Not yet, but working on it!"

It was late in the morning as Greg made sure everything was set up for their picnic, and he had to set it early as a surprise for Pearl. He only told her to be at the top of said cliff by noon, and knowing her there was a decent chance she would be there much earlier, even if he advised her against that. But right now, he had to carry a basket while climbing a cliff. Said climb was surprisingly smooth, as the climb was gradual rather than steep, and there were no real obstacles on the way.

Once he arrived at the top, Greg took a moment to take in the environment he had chosen for today. A gentle breeze flew through him, the sun radiating its gentle glow, and the soft, green lawn made for a comfortable place for just relaxing. As he contemplated the place, he heard an ever familiar soft voice call from behind:

"Good morning Greg!" Pearl greeted with a smile on her face. _Oh how I love that smile of hers._

"Hello Pearl, glad to see you could make it."

"So, what is this that you have set up here?" she asked, tagging a look at the blanket in the ground and the basket to its side.

"Well, I brought us a picnic!"

…

"A Picnic?"

"Oh! Well, basically we're having an outdoors snack in the meadow... Hey! Are you ok?!"

Greg did expect Pearl to not be sure of what a Picnic is, since their interaction with humans was rather limited from what he understood from talking with her. What he was not expecting was Pearl's reaction when he mentioned "snack". She made a very uneasy smile while furrowing some of her facial features. All of this was accompanied by what he could only define as a soft, troubled laughter and some sweat dropping off her.

* * *

 _Food. I must have known it had something to do with food. And everything looked so nice so far!_

Pearl appreciated that Greg had taken his time to bring this arrangement all the way to the top of the hill, but food was something she could simply not tolerate taking. She was grossed out at how it traveled through her body, and how she would need to defecate after eating, which was even more gross, even if Amethyst and Rose seemed to enjoy it.

 _That being said… I did neglect to tell him about this, so I should probably be fair to him, though he could've just told me of this so that we could avoid this situation. Alright Pearl, get a hold of yourself!_

Pearl proceeded to force a less troubled smile, return her facial expression to their usual form, and tried to hold back the nervous sweat coming from her as she explained to Greg:

"Umm… Greg… us gems don't need to eat."

Greg jumped off his seat on the lawn and followed up:

"Wait what?"

"Our bodies are hard light constructs, and thus unlike your organic bodies, we do not need nutrition. We create our own energy within our gems and use it to interact with your world."

As she finished her explanation, Greg seemed to have a mix of confusion and awe on his face… as well as the flustered expression she looked forward to whenever they met. He sheepishly proceeded to apologize:

"Oh… I guess I just expected you gems to need food since you look and act so similar to us, barring all the magical stuff."

"Actually, Amethyst and Rose do eat from time to time, while Garnet does so rarely. It really depends on who you ask, but I don't like eating at all, I hope you understand."

"Hey, don't worry about it, I should've asked that before planning all this. Besides, that's more toast and jam for me!"

Pearl laughed a bit before sitting down with him. She still liked the environment he chose for their date, and it was easy to relax with him around, not to mention it would be rude to just leave after he had all of this set up for her. Greg munched on a loaf of bread with strawberry jam for a while, a time that Pearl took to relax on the shade of a nearby tree. This revelation about gems had only piqued Greg's curiosity, and he asked:

"So, is there anything else I should know about gems?"

Pearl's eyes lit up at the chance to teach Greg about themselves, as literally nobody had ever asked her to do so, yet there was so much to tell!

"I'm glad you asked: As you already know, we Gems create our bodies as hard light constructs or more simply, light with mass, and thus we do not need to eat, but we also do not require sleep. You already know that we can live for millennia, but you should also know that we are made already grown, not needing to mature physically or mentally."

"Wait, you never go through childhood or youth?"

"Fortunately not, but we can still learn some things like you humans. I was not made for music or combat, but I was able to learn them either on my own or some help. Rose taught me how to fight, and I learned music alongside the rest of my fellow gems naturally as time went by."

"Man, I wish I had that much time to learn new stuff, I could even become an astronaut."

Pearl just giggled at the thought of Greg traveling the cosmos in a train-shaped spaceship while singing one of his songs.

"Hey, I would make a great astronaut! I would just need about a couple hundred years to learn all the technobabble that goes into it!"

"Not to mention another century training your body and a few decades learning all the procedures required to make a ship keep itself together in space."

Greg just pouted at that before Pearl continued her lesson on Gems:

…

"Wait, you can shapeshift into anything?"

"As long as we do not use too much energy, yes we can."

"Can you shapeshift into an owl like Amethyst did?"

…

"If I understood correctly, your existence is attached to your gem or something like that?"

"Yes, what about it?"

"What happens if it breaks?"

"Well, a cracked gem would show signs of malfunction, including voice alteration, light diffusion, and uncontrollable shapeshifting. Further damage would break the being of the gem, leaving only fragments of their mind left until it is completely destroyed."

"Woah, that sounds hardcore. Is there any way to fix that?"

"As far as we know, there is no way to fix a completely shattered gem, but a crack or fissure can be mended by Rose's tears."

"Rose's… tears?"

"It is strange even to us, but her gem seems to have powers beyond that of a normal quartz, including healing through lacrimal essence and manipulation of plant life, upwards to even granting them limited consciousness."

"So I guess she is able to grant thought to even moss?"

"Oh, she already did! I should show you to the Brooding Hill someday, the local moss' annual bloom is one of the greatest spectacles one can see on early summer, it is simply breathtaking!"

 _Moss? Freaking Moss?!_

…

"You can survive in space without any sort of spacesuit?!"

"Our bodies automatically adapt to the gravity of other planetoids, rendering that issue moot. Meanwhile, due to our lack of blood flow we do not require breathing, and our Gems can only be threatened by extremely high of low temperatures, theoretically a gem could float in space for centuries and continue living until they shatter due to collision with an asteroid or another solid object, or enter into contact with a star, which would most definitely disintegrate our gems… which now that I think about it is a pretty grim scenario for any gem." Pearl realized with a horrified expression at the thought of having a Gem's being completely cease to exist. "Excuse me, I think I need to clear my mind for a while…"

These exchanges lasted until Pearl noticed that it became sunset. She had often seen the twilight view from here, often alone, sometimes with the rest of the gems, but she never grew tired of how the colors changed depending on the day: sometimes, the twilight would be obscured by clouds and shine purple, or it could be a clear and strong red in days the Earth was closest to the sun. Occasionally, the sky would be clear and the sun far, giving tints of pink to the sunset. Today it was one of her favorites: an intense orange sun meeting the ocean mist to create a greyish, almost white sky and sea.

Greg also joined into the appreciation, sitting beside her near the edge of the cliff:

"I just got the greatest idea for an album cover."

"Wait, I thought you were not going to continue your musical career."

"Yeah, but that won't stop me from continuing to create music at least for us to enjoy, and I already have quite a lot of material for my next album."

"Then I guess I need to continue practicing my part for Comet then, I mean we might as well do our best with only two voices and instruments, right?"

Greg glanced to the side of the cliff, noticing a funny looking with a clipboard man near his van, and produced a huge grin on his face.

"Actually, we might not have to do this alone!" He said as he cleaned up his eating space, placed everything he used into the basket, and raced off towards the bottom of the hill, leaving a confused Pearl to wonder just what he meant by that… and what did a man with a clipboard had anything to do with Comet.

* * *

"Let's see, cameras are ready, everybody ready?"

 _The footage boots up and on screen, a blurry image clears up as it reveals Greg running towards an improvised stage with his electric guitar in hand on. The stage has a huge illumination system on the back which currently shines of a deep blue while the floor is tiled with what seems to be thin transparent plastic. At the top of the warp pad, Pearl stands with a Microphone, doing some vocal exercises outside the range of the mic before noticing the camera started to record. On the back to the left, we see Amethyst with a set of drums smiling in anticipation, Garnet stoic as ever with a bass, and to the right one can see Rose Quartz playing a bit with the keys of the keytar before noticing the recording had started. Greg immediately proceeds the introduction:_

" _Good evening everyone! Some of you may have seen me before,_

 _*Greg does a quick, yet strong chord on the guitar, which echoes on;_

 _heard some of my legendary songs across the Galaxy!_

 _*Which Greg follows up with a lower chord, also echoing;_

 _And while it is true that no one can resist the Universe, today I want to present you to some of the greatest musicians a star could ever have. On the drums, wild and explosive, we have the singular Amethyst!"_

" _Hey there, humans!"_

 _*With a face full of confidence, she proceeds to indeed, go wild on the drums without missing a beat before going into a more professional solo._

" _On the bass, ever cool and silent, the mysterious Garnet!_

 _Garnet only responds with a wave and a smirk, before doing her own slow, but technical and rhythmical Bass progression._

" _Back at the keytar, fun and graceful, we have Rose Quartz!"_

" _Hello everyone!"_

 _*She proceeds to do a delicate, yet fast paced keytar solo, laughing smiling playfully all the while._

" _And finally at the main vocals, elegant and precise, the shining Pearl!"_

" _I hope you enjoy this cover as much as we did composing it!"_

 _Pearl just waves towards the camera, choosing to save her singing voice for the actual song._

" _And thus, we shall do something unusual: for the first time ever, Comet shall be Mr. Universe's one and only act!"_

 _Greg presses a pedal and the lights go off, as his voice can be slightly heard:_

" _One, two, three, four!"_

 _Lights still turned off, the opening riffs of Comet can be heard before the room becomes illuminated once more as the song fully kicks in as Pearl begins singing:_

* * *

 _Some... say I have no direction, that I'm a light-speed distraction, that's a knee-jerk reaction._

 _ **Still this is the final frontier, everything is so clear, to my destiny I steer**_

 _ **This life in the stars is all I've ever known,**_

 _ **Stars and stardust in infinite space is my only home**_

 _But the moment that I hit the stage, thousands of voices are calling my name_

 _And I know in my heart it's been worth it all of the while_

 _ **And as my albums fly off of the shelves, handing out autographed pics of myself,**_

 _ **This life I chose isn't easy but sure is one heck of a ride**_

 _ **At the moment that I hit the stage, I hear the universe calling my name**_

 _ **And I know deep down in my heart I have nothing to fear**_

 _ **And as the solar wind blows through my hair, knowing I have so much more left to share**_

 _A wandering spirit who's tearing its way through the cold atmosphere_

 _I'll fly like a comet_

 _ **Soar like a comet**_

 _ **Crash like a comet**_

 _ **I'm just a comet**_

 _*end footage with a star-shaped iris out._

* * *

 **Thanks for reading Jam Session, a.k.a that one that took tons of rewrittes.**

 **Basically, chapter 3 started out as a Greg trying to visit Pearl, only to discover she has "gone on a mission" and instead spends time with the rest of the gems. A good concept, if it wasn't for the fact that after 2 days of putting my novice writer brain to work, there were still way too many hoops I had to jump through to make the story make sense, and after that I had to put dialogue even more unnatural than usual as I tried to explain why the rest of the gems wanted to spend time with Greg instead of, you know, aiding Pearl on her mission. This version of chapter 3 was eventually scrapped and probably postponed for once I am a writer worth a damn that can give better logic.**

 **After that, the chapter took a form closer to what you see here... at the beginning. It went on a completely different path towards the middle and end though, which essentially boiled down to some version of "Rose's Scabbard", just dealing with Pearl's existential crisis as a Gem created to serve others. It was well written, and probably contained more romantic fuzzies for all of you StarBird trash out there. The main problem? This chapter had no business being so early in the fic. Their relationship is still nowhere close enough for such a bomb to be willingly dropped on Greg, and it would create massive structural problems later on.**

 **So instead, we have a short slice-of-life episode that sets up future chapters and is pretty much lighthearted, though it lacks in some more romantic moments mostly because I wanted to focus on Greg learning a bit more about the gems, ending with a version of Comet which we will never get in canon and probably not even in a fan cover. Fanart please.**

 **Yeah, this chapter has a very hard time coming from the heels of the last two chapters which seem to be very well received. Regardless, I hope you enjoyed this more grounded chapter in the lives of Greg and Pearl as they complete their ultimate cover. I swear when I'm back you'll have enough sugar injected straight into your blood that you will die of diabetes. Or at least I'd like to believe you will.**

 **Next chapter won't be out until next week, I'm off to a trip with my best friend for the entire weekend, but I'll still try to work on it in my cellphone. I might be releasing status updates through my Tumblr blog, as well as fanart that helped inspire certain scenes of this fanfic.**

 **If you SOMEHOW read all of that AN, you are a complete boss, I love you with all of my heart and I wish upon you and your future family (because with such dedication to read this AN you will eventually have a beautiful family) endless prosperity and happiness. As a treat, know that next chapter will have Pearl dealing with the joys and terrors of Beach City's most fun place to be around: Funland.**

 **-InazumaFrost, massively tired fanfic author who needs an entire day of sleep.**


	4. Off The Rails

Off the Rails

For the first time since he decided to stay with Pearl and the gems, Greg had composed an original song. While he had fun composing duets and band pieces for him and the gems based on his previous work, he had a whole new muse to inspire him to write something new for her. Something that described what he felt for her, something completely about her… and yet the lyrics actively dodged him. The tabs for both guitars were complete, he had tracks for the drums and bass in progress, but he could not decide on a consistent style for the lyrics. Does he use a complex language that Pearl would seem to appreciate, or does he stick to his casual style and sincerity?

 _Well, new ideas won't come just by sitting and strumming some chords, Mr. Universe._

Almost all of his lyrics were inspired by events in his everyday life, memories that he treasured, or simple sensations that struck a chord with him, while overthinking the words would often freeze his progress for hours at a time. Despite living in Beach City for almost a month now, he barely knew anything from it outside the eponymous beach, the cliff at the end of the city, some places to eat, and the Gem Temple, which was a shame since he had heard this area is a popular tourist attraction during the summer. Thus he exited his van and proceeded to take a walk through the Beach city… Beach.

The soft summer breeze was ever present and the skies shone their clear blue while residents and tourists alike enjoyed the warm sun. The sea was… well, it was always either turquoise or pink during the day, he had been over this before and he was getting used to it. The boardwalk was lively, with people eating at the local restaurants, playing at the arcade or shopping at the other locales, including the beautifully named "T-shirt shop". _Better than Nebula though, I never even mention that word in the song now that I think about it._ Of course, it was not long before his primal instincts demanded some sustenance, and his preferred option had always been a small, yet confident fast food restaurant on the boardwalk, with a name as creative as the last: "Beach Citywalk Fries." _Always good for a star on a budget._

He was beginning to enjoy his fries when he noticed a… purple cat digging through a trash can nearby. It eventually rose from it with an empty water bottle on its mouth when it seemed to notice Greg. Its eyes widened before dropping the bottle, which allowed Greg to notice its familiar gem, or rather her familiar gem, a detail he was beginning to process before the cat started talking:

"Hey music man! Fancy seeing you here, I thought you would just be sitting on your butt, thinking of Pearl or yet another of your tunes."

"Oh, um… Hey Amethyst! just tunes today, I'm trying to write down something new this time."

"Hmmm, just tunes eh? Is there any reason in particular for writing it? Maybe for a friend, for a gem, or for _her?_ " She said with a silly grin that tried to be teasing and flirty.

"… Well, you got me there, it is for Pearl."

Satisfied with her amazing deduction skills, Amethyst just laughed at him, still with the form of a cat.

 _I never thought that watching a cat laugh would be this… unsettling._

Recovering her composure, Amethyst noticed the food on Greg's hand before making a request Greg would both regret and thank later in the day at different times.

"Hey Greg, can I have some of your fries? They look pretty good."

"Oh sure, help yourse— "

In a blink of an eye, Greg felt the plate of fries disappear from his hand before Amethyst ran off with the same item on her mouth.

"Woah-hey! What are you doing!? That's my meal for today! Amethyst!" He futilely called out as the cat raced through the streets of Beach City with Greg following not too far behind, barely keeping up with her. While he had a new chance to know the rest of Beach City, he couldn't quite take in what he was watching considering that his lunch was on the line. At least he could say that he performed his workout routine for the day.

* * *

It had been a while since the Crystal Gems had to stop a rampaging monster early in the day, but a giant eel had appeared in the Old Dock of Beach City even before the sun came up. While it was dispatched swiftly by the gems, it struggled enough to turn the docks into a small field of wooden rubble, which they had to either clean or repair before anyone could get hurt by the debris. Making matters worse is that Garnet had to go on her own mission through a volcano to retrieve a corrupted gem that hid in magma, while Rose had to maintain her fountain for the day, as it was an occasional target of desperate gem monsters trying to heal themselves who could instead end up damaging and clogging the healing tears.

Which left Amethyst and Pearl alone to take care of the destruction caused by the battle against the corrupted gem, though in reality it went about as well as you would expect.

"Ugh, why do the rest get to do the cool stuff while we are stuck cleaning up this mess?" Amethyst complained while carrying some pieces of debris.

"Amethyst, even if Rose said that there might be monsters attracted to her fountain, most of the time it is only standing around and making sure everything is working optimally. It is just as dull as cleaning this up, probably even moreso since she'll be there for almost a whole day."

"… By the way, why didn't you go with Rose?"

"Because I know that leaving you alone to take care of this mess is probably not a wise decision. Besides, she can handle anything that may or may not happen there."

"Eh, I can handle these kinds of chores well by myself and you know that. I'm still a Crystal Gem after all."

Pearl could pinpoint the moment of Amethyst's realization as her eyes lit up with taunting intent.

"Wait… don't tell me you were hoping to see him!"

"Are you really going to go there again?" Pearl responded, by now used to Amethyst's empty teasing. "Anyways, I still don't believe you would be willing to clean all of this by yourself, so my point still- "

Before Pearl could finish her statement, Amethyst summoned her whip and reached for several chunks of wood on the sand, after which she pulled these towards her. As the sharp wood flew to her, she shapeshifted into a muscular figure Pearl and the gems were somewhat familiar with by now, the "Purple Puma", and reached for the flying pieces of debris as she pressed them together until they were somehow compressed into solid cubes of wood. Unable to believe what she saw, Pearl quickly called out:

"Are you kidding me?! You could have done this and hour ago and we would have finished by now!"

Amethyst switched back to her usual form before replying with a relaxed smirk:

"Sorry P, didn't feel like it."

"Well, now that we both know that you can do that, this should at least go by smoothly. Let's finish this up quickly so that no human gets hurt here."

As Pearl expected, in the course of only a few minutes the beach was clear of debris, all of the wood stacked at one side so that they could be disposed of more efficiently. Relieved from today's main responsibility, Pearl gave a sigh of satisfaction before turning towards Amethyst… who was no longer there. Now it was only a sigh of frustration, as that meant she would have to carry all these cubes and debris away from the docks for disposal by herself.

 _Well, at least we got the hard part sorted out, though I do wonder where did she scamper off._

Pearl continued to dispose the now manageable stacks of wood for just under an hour, swiftly finishing her task for the day. Before she could think of heading back to the temple for the day though, she heard a loud crash in the distance, followed by an agitated voice. Turning her view above the rocks separating the shore from the nearby street, she noticed Greg chasing a lilac cat who seemed to have some sort of cardboard plate on her mouth.

 _Never mind the fact she stole from Greg, that would be nothing new, but why did she come all the way here?!_

As the troupe approached her position, seemingly oblivious to her presence, Pearl considered just letting them sort their situation out. It was hardly the first time they messed with each other like this, and it could be somewhat entertaining to watch them get into trouble. That was, until she noticed that the cardboard that Amethyst carried on her mouth actually had food on it.

 _Well, I guess that only one of them actually needs sustenance to function optimally._

In the blink of an eye, Pearl leapt towards the gem feline, covering her escape path through an alleyway. Surrounded on two fronts, and knowing that her new obstacle could counter any option she had of escaping, Amethyst dropped the plate from her mouth, and shifted back into her usual form, laughing in resigned defeat:

"Heh, you guys got me again. Here's your food Greg." By now, whatever decency the plate had was stolen from what seemed to be a wild chase: the plate had much less "fries" than what Greg usually ordered, not to mention it was tainted with dirt, dust, a bit of purple fur, and what seemed to be Amethyst's mouth fluids.

"Ehhh… you know what, you can take 'em. I don't think I can stomach those fries like that."

"Really? Thanks a lot Greg!" Amethyst said before eating the fries… and the plate in one mouthful. _I still don't get what she likes so much about eating, and her manners really do not help._ "If any of you need me, I'll be eating garbage in my room, I'm done for the day and I'm pretty sure Pearl would appreciate some time with her 'friend'. See ya, Music Man!" She said before transforming into a seagull and flying off to the temple. _Well, she isn't wrong, but I wonder if she was actually plan— "_

"Oh, hi Pearl! I didn't really expect to see you today, much less sweaty like this."

"Then again, you probably didn't expect a purple cat to steal your food, yet here we are." Pearl said with a laugh before continuing: "Good morning to you, Greg. How has your new song been going?"

"It's been going great! Well, mostly that is, except for the lyrics. But don't worry about it, I'll get it by myself." _I'll take that as you needing my help if you don't mind._

"Greg, Are you sure about that? I'm sure I could help out with that, even if it somewhat out of my field of experience." Pearl probably just wanted to actually know something about Greg's new song, as he hid all information about it as if it were a mystery without solution, as if he did not have confidence on his own new music. Well, at least Pearl was confident about it being good, knowing most of his previous work. Regardless, Greg was adamant about the subject:

"Seriously, I'll be fine, and if I'm being honest, I wanted to rest from composing that for the day."

"Well, I understand that, you've locked yourself in that van for the last couple of days and Rose was starting to worry whether you'd become sick, and that's not to mention how insufferable Amethyst has become ever since she met you."

"I guess that's part of her charm though, even if her teasing does become a bit overbearing at times." Greg said before laughing a bit, probably remembering the events earlier today, or how she acted when he first arrived at the temple.

"I would probably agree with you on that, though it was never as pronounced as it is now, and at least she would annoy Rose and Garnet a bit as well. Anyways, since you are not thinking of composing anything for today, what were you planning to do?"

Greg took a confident, yet relaxed pose before announcing his intentions:

"I was thinking of going back to sleep at the van, but if you are free today— "

 _Is he going where I think he is?_

"I was wondering if you would like to have some fun with me at Funland?"

 _Yes, he just went there._

From what little she saw and heard about Funland, it seemed to be an entertainment place for humans where they would buy "tickets" in order to enter mechanical constructions that seemed designed specifically to create reactions of adrenaline or enjoyment in people. Most notably, it was often filled with humans seeking for empty thrills, and it would probably involve her interacting with them. Despite it being her duty to protect them, she would still rather just protect humans and interact with them only when necessary.

That being said, one of her previous "dates" with Greg focused partly on eating, and she was still able to enjoy herself during that afternoon. Not to mention there was little she could do for the rest of the day other than just staying at her room, as Rose and Garnet were out, probably for the rest of the day, and there was no way Pearl would accompany Amethyst to eat garbage at her mess of a room.

 _Well, his company is fine and in the worst case, I guess we will just talk. Besides, this amusement park should be interesting at least, if it is all what Rose and Amethyst have made it out to be._

"I've heard of that place before, but I myself have never gone there. I guess there's a first time for everything though, so lead the way."

* * *

While Beach City Funland wasn't far from their starting location (at the far end of the street they were walking in), Greg couldn't help but inquire something that bugged him about Pearl's response on the way:

"So you've never gone to Funland despite living here for centuries if I got that right?"

"Well, not in its current form, but little over a century ago, this place was something quite different."

"There was a Funland over a century ago?"

Pearl flashed a smile as she usually did when she had an opportunity to expose to Greg, which at first was her favorite part of spending time with Greg.

"It was not called Funland back then, but with what little mechanical ingenuity humans were able to achieve at the time, some of them were able to build what they called 'Mechanical Oddities'. Here in Beach City, they had two locations, each presenting different constructs, both of which Rose and I visited: where the Beach City Arcade now stands, one could find automaton animals, including a deeply disturbing primate who told fortunes through printed paper. We brought those up to Garnet and she confirmed these predictions of the future as "bogus and unclear", though people apparently still loved to see the monkey show very limited signs of interaction with the world."

"Wait, I think I've seen some old stuff like that… I think those toys are now considered some form of antique for fairs or some music shows with really weird vibes. Man, I'm glad I didn't go that route for my shows."

 _Wouldn't have never met any of you, for starters._

"Well, if Rose's and Amethyst's tales are anything to go by, I think this the place, isn't it?"

Before them stood a big sign displaying to all travelers and locals that they indeed, had arrived at Beach City Funland. For further confirmation, said sign shone with neon letters and stars, while food and game stalls, and several attractions could be seen in the distance. The park was not quite packed, but it was still a medium crowd, the sight of which made Pearl gulp loudly, though she was quick to hide it. Greg bought their tickets for the day, and now the eternal question of all park visitors arose:

"So, where should we go first? Amethyst says that the "Appalachian" is worth looking into, while Rose generally talks about a "Ferris Wheel" in here."

"I… have no idea of which the first one might be, but I'm pretty sure Ferris Wheels stay the same no matter where one goes… though I was actually thinking of leaving that for last if you don't mind."

Pearl seemed somewhat perplexed that some sort of giant wheel could be qualified as ending on a high note, but before she could meditate more on this, Greg continued as he made his excitement clear:

"Woah, they have a Mirror House here?! Hey Pearl, you're gonna love this one!" He said before darting towards said building, with Pearl trailing not far behind him. As they entered the building, Pearl was confused, yet curious about the myriad reflections surrounding them:

"A Mirror House, hmmm." She said before looking at herself on a curved mirror, which seemed built to exaggerate the middle of oneself body by minimizing the head and part of the legs. "Well, it is remarkable how the shape of these mirrors lend themselves to create such fine optical illusions, though I do wonder…"

Meanwhile, Greg was clowning with a mirror that instead exaggerated the proportions of his face so that it seemed to make up most of his body. With his best interpretation of evil laughter, he exclaimed:

"Look at me and pray, puny flesh bags, for I am Greg, devourer of universes and pork chops!" He couldn't help but laugh at himself after that, accompanied by a small giggle from Pearl. Speaking of Pearl, when he turned around to see her… well, let's just say that her reflection was very similar to her normal form, or whatever was left of it.

"Wha-Woa-Aah! You can shapeshift like… that?"

Pearl took a look at herself with her misplaced eyes before noticing that her form was probably a bit too much "inhuman" and hastily shifted back into her usual look.

"Oh! Sorry about that Greg, I didn't mean to scare you, but I just got curious on how this mirrors reflect light, and I guess I got carried away to see how to get a "normal" reflection in these. But yes, modifying parts of our body is indeed part of our talents with shapeshifting, though Garnet is the most skilled at this form."

"Don't worry about it, I've seen scarier stuff in my short life." Greg said while breathing loudly. "You should have seen some of the reflections you could find in an old fair back at home, now those stick-like heads were the stuff of nightmares." Greg added with a shiver. They continued to find different shapes and distortions on the mirrors for a long time before leaving the house. That being said, it was not long before Pearl saw a sign with a familiar name to her: The Appalachian. It seemed to be a sort of railroad system specialized for speed and momentum in order to maneuver through tilted paths and sudden drops. _Well, if one is going to waste such precious knowledge of engineering and physics for some sort of game, it would be an even bigger waste to not try it._

"Hey Greg, I found the game Amethyst told me about. Maybe we should go try… it? Greg, are you listeni—Woah."

* * *

Before the two of them stood a massive structure similar in concept to "The Appalachian", but this one seemed much more drastic in every way possible. The climb for accumulating potential energy was much more daunting than that of the former, and thus the train would move at even higher speeds, going through spirals, extended tilts with very low angles, and most impressively, a _clothoid_ _loop to both expend and gain velocity through gravity._ Pearl was not worried about not being able to resist the speed of the ride, nor its brutal momentum (she's been through space and hundreds-of-meters falls before); in fact, she actually felt compelled to test how would her physical form react to such forces acting on the kart and on herself.

"Greg, we're going in."

"Wait, are you sure about it? I mean, it would your first roller coaster,and it might be too… extreme for you, if you know what I mean."

Pearl just gazed for a moment at Greg before giving a condescending laugh towards him, after which she replied:

"Greg, I appreciate your concern, but I've been through space, fought monsters while climbing steep inclines, and jumped towards drops larger than any human structure could ever hope to equal in order to gain advantages in combat. I'm fairly sure that this shouldn't be much of a problem for me."

 _Well, she could have probably done without the haughtiness, but she's right I guess._

"Well, I'm glad to hear that because I probably would be unable to ride it by myself without fainting from the fear by myself!" Greg said with a laugh before the two of them went into the "Thunder Bird Coaster" … directly into the 15-minute line. _Well, I guess it could be a lot worse. I mean, a whole hour for a carrousel? Who would survive that, let alone at the tender age of ten?_

"You humans really seem to like these rides."

"Of course we do: I mean, it is after all the safest, most consistent way to get some sort of adrenaline rush without risking your life too much."

"I guess that's true, but I wonder whether you actually find this relaxing or even entertaining. I mean, adrenaline seems to be released in response to danger, so I would guess that going through a "Roller Coaster" would cause some degree of terror in humans."

"I think we like to try new things and to experiment sensations that, while terrifying, makes us feel invincible. I mean, we our bodies might believe that we are in trouble, but our hearts and minds are fully aware that it is not an issue and it somehow results in a really fun time."

 _Humans just seem to find even more ways to confuse me, but he might be on to something. Maybe they get a sensation of power, of invincibility? Maybe they believe themselves superior to the laws of physics for a moment, knowing fully well that the ride they are on will play with these to enhance the illusion._

 _Maybe it is a bit like dueling with a hologram of mine in that sense._

"Hey Pearl, it's our turn! Hop on!"

"Oh! Sorry about that." She sat next to Greg before fully realizing just how many safety measures were in place for the ride, including a safety belt and a sort of metal restrainer was placed on them. Several seconds passed before the train started to move and the ride began.

* * *

Pearl was for the most part thrilled with the ride and was able to enjoy it as a strange but fun way of seeing how physics worked on such an extensive work. Greg on the other hand, was probably a bit too thrilled, by which we mean that not even Pearl could help but tease him a bit once they got off.

"Greg, I really appreciate your dedication to our songs, but you really didn't need to do those vocal exercises for high notes during the ride!" she said while trying to fix Greg's absolutely messed hair from the experience on a bench. Their commemorative photo frame on the initial drop from the ride showcased Pearl with a wide, open smile while Greg had the face of pure terror and regret that only one wishing for death yet denying its entrance could have.

"Hey, you're the strange one there. I think that you're the first person I've seen to not scream in abject horror in a Roller Coaster." Greg replied, trying futilely to regain lost ground.

"Well, I guess that we gems are made of a sturdier material than you humans."

 _Did she just._

"I don't think I feel so safe having you fix my hair anymore if your words are going to be so painfully with your jokes."

"What? It is true, our gems and body constructs both resist far more than your soft bodies."

 _She might have done that by pure accident. What._

"You know what? Let's just go to our next destination!" By now the sun was beginning to fall in the skies, and thus Greg knew the next 2 places to visit before talking for a bit and saying their goodbyes.

"So, what else is there to do in here?"

Greg shifted his view towards a closed booth from which flashes of light periodically appeared before a father and daughter exited it with a handful of small photos of themselves. "I wonder, do you and the gems like taking photos of yourselves?"

Pearl was not expecting that question, as showcased by a slight surprise blush from her, yet she replied:

"Well, we can't take them at all since the technology for that is still somewhat rare and most importantly unnecessary for us, so it has been far too long since we had a portrait of any of us created, at least a few decades. But if I guess there is no harm in admitting that I do miss having an up to date image of myself instead of some colorless image of myself taken by Amethyst when she found an old camera… and then ate it. Or this picture at the Rollercoaster where I can barely even notice myself.

 _By this point I should really never question what Amethyst can or cannot eat._

"You're in luck then, since now amusement parks also have these handy photo booths made especially for high quality photos! And this one can have up to two people in it at a time, if you get what I'm saying." Greg pointed at the booth he had observed nearby, directing Pearl's gaze towards it.

"Well, having my first human friend and having fun with him should be something to remember, so why not?"

The two of them entered the photo booth and the first thing Pearl noticed was a huge variety of head decorations humans seemed to use when taking their photos here. She also noticed the lens of a camera above a button that indicated when to start taking the pictures. Greg inserted a few quarters into the coin slot and a sort of jingle played, confirming that the machine was ready for use, specifically for five photos:

The first one had Pearl and Greg just smiling as normal. Cute, yet nothing out of the ordinary.

The second photo required a bit more planning, but Pearl was mostly invisible on it with the exception of her smiling face, which peeked through Greg's abundant mane.

Third one had Greg don some sort of Jester hat while Pearl scrambled to get it off him, resulting in a messy photo that would become the source of teasing towards Pearl for a while.

Fourth photo had Greg with arm wrapped around Pearl's shoulder, who just blushed a little with a shy, pouty expression.

Fifth had Pearl waving at the camera while Greg stretched his lips and extended his tongue towards the camera, as if he were playfully mocking it.

Pearl stored the printed photos in her Gem for safer travel as they made their way towards the Ferris Wheel while the sunset was nearing its twilight.

"What was all that about in your third photo? I mean, that hat did not even fit you all that well!"

"I guess I just wanted to have some fun in there with them, but if you want to I can keep it if you don't like it."

"No, it still has some charm to it, and you will be keeping the second, fourth and fifth photo. Just make sure of bringing a copy of the fourth one at least, that one was your favorite… and mine I guess. So, this is a Ferris Wheel. A giant… wheel." Pearl noted with some disappointment in her voice.

"It sure doesn't look as much, but it is very well positioned for watching the sunset if you ask me."

"On that, I can agree." Pearl replied as she saw the star above the seas, heralding the arrival of the night. She might not hold too much admiration for the general populace of Earth, but she never needed Rose's help to fall in love with its sights and natural phenomena. As they boarded the Wheel and it begun to spin, Greg inquired while taking a look at the endless orange sky:

"What do you really think of us humans?"

Pearl was shocked at that question. Even Rose knew better than to ask for her opinion on humans, and to be honest she never held them near the high regards that the rest of the Gems did. But if he was willing to listen, she would indeed speak:

"You all change so quickly. A single human can be so many different things in a single second at once, and their life is often spent trying to accomplish more, to learn and to reinvent themselves. Us gems are created with a single purpose and thus it takes us ages compared to you to take on new talents. Yet, some of you try too hard to take control of so many things out of your capacity, and thus compete with each other so much rather than trying to survive together. In thousands of years of existence, you are the first human I truly bonded with and I am grateful for that, but even that might be fleeting."

Pearl's face took on a more somber look, but even then Greg had to ask:

"What do you mean by that?"

"You will someday die, and I will still live with the Crystal Gems for what might possibly be all of eternity. And to be frank, that scares and saddens me in equal measure."

Greg couldn't find any words to comfort that feeling for the moment, so he just let the ride end as he saw the last rays of the sun hide beyond the horizon. As they exited the ride, they silently walked towards the exit of Funland. Pearl had already noticed Greg's tormented look, but only once they were away from the rest did she begin to talk again:

"I might have burdened with words I was never meant to say to you, but I want you to know that I do enjoy our time together. I just worry that-"

Pearl was interrupted by Greg's warm arms suddenly wrapped around her. She recognized it as a hug Rose would often share with the Crystal Gems and with her human friends: a sign of safety and comfort that she accepted without any other words. For the first time since she met Greg, she teared up a bit while Greg began to speak:

"Pearl, we are all scared of death as humans. Someday, we know that we will burn out and leave everyone behind. And I will never understand how it feels to outlive you for an eternity. But throughout it all, you will still have the Crystal Gems with you, and I won't let death intimidate me from loving my dream, even if only as a really good pal."

As she finished crying, Pearl returned the hug to Greg before saying:

"Well that's going to be a problem."

 _Isn't that my line?_

"Oh really?"

"I'm pretty sure you're more than just a "really good pal" to me, Greg."

… _Greg? Great job there, Star Child._

Greg just blushed violently while trying to keep some semblance of his stylish bravado as he said he goodbyes for the night:

"Uhhh, today was pretty fun! So I guess I'll be seeing you soon, I mean I'm still writing my song so that I can show it to you someday."

"I'll be looking forward to it! Good night, Greg."

"Goodbye Pearl!" and with that, Greg ran presumably towards his van, while Pearl walked towards the temple… not without noticing a bird at the distance, perched atop a rock near the shore. _That's strange, most birds are sleeping at this time, and that is not an owl._ As she made her way towards the temple, she was able to notice a small detail on said seagull… it had a pink gem on its torso.

 _Oh my stars, did she hear everything? This is going to be a long night._

* * *

 **2 weeks of MMOs, and a month of agonizing homework and lack of inspiration later, here we finally have Chapter 4: Off The Rails! While that last sentence should summarize how my time was spend during the mini hiatus, I believe that this chapter should be worth the wait. If not, then let me know in the reviews as I would highly appreciate any constructive criticism as always. This might be the first chapter where I bit off more than what I could chew, but it was still fun to write for me. It was a high risk but I hope you all like it!**

 **Now, as for upload schedule: I am planning on making this story a weekly/biweekly affair, depending on personal life stuff. If not, then it will be a case of "It will be ready when it is ready".**

 **Next chapter will deal with the stronger bond Pearl and Greg have by now, but if it goes as planned then it should be more lighthearted than this one. I hope you will look forward to it and I wish you all a good morning because where I am uploading this it is freaking 5 AM. Save me.**

 **-InazumaFrost, fanfic author that hopes that this chapter will satisfy those who have been waiting for this.**


	5. Storage Library

Storage Library

 _Let's see, go through Fenton Street and then walk down Sussex Road… where were those again?_

…

" _U-Stor", this city never fails to impress me with how creative the names for anything can be._

It was barely dawning when Pearl had already arrived at the storage facility with a key for Greg's unit in hand. Another set of instruments had arrived, as well as a load of miscellaneous items (or "old stuff", as Greg referred to them) that could not fit in the van and made a mess out of his storage unit. He let that detail slip during one of their jam sessions and Pearl insisted on helping, as she did have some experience handling several kinds of chaos. _I've helped Amethyst find her moldy food in her room, this shouldn't be too bad,_ she thought as she opened the gate of the storage unit.

Well, it really wasn't that bad. The air was damp and a bit dusty, but there were no identifiable rotten odors. There were several boxes packed on top of each other near the entrance, a mattress rested on the left wall, while other objects laid across the ground and above the boxes, including piles of newspapers, framed drawings, deflated balls and trash that Amethyst would appreciate. _Hmmm… the massive pillars I set for Amethyst wouldn't work here, considering this place is not nearly as tall, but it does have some empty space amidst the disorder…_

Pearl began to organize boxes and trash alike into different labeled areas, depending on what they contained or their use. Instruments and audio equipment went on the "acoustics corner", pictures, old furniture and general decorations went into the "aesthetic wall", etc. The morning sun was at its brightest when most of the objects were still pilled above each other and in a mess, but at least they were now categorized by type. _Hmmm, Greg's somewhat late today, I wonder if somethi—Oh! Huh, I hadn't noticed that one…_

A wide, short box had escaped her notice so far. It hid in the space between the mattress and the wall and unlike most of the other boxes today, it was already opened. With a mind of placing it into its proper place, Pearl tipped the mattress onto the ground and noticed that the box was filled to the brim with several kinds of literature, of all things. Pearl did know that humans enjoyed reading at times, yet it was surprising, yet predictable for Greg to enjoy doing so. She was familiar with the concept of musical notation, something vital for the majority of musicians, and she would not be surprised if Greg learned some of his spacefaring vocabulary through stories or science books. She was thinking of where to place this box when the sound of an engine started and continuously drew near as a small smile appeared on her face.

 _Seems like the Universe got lost in space last night, but I guess I'll let it slide this time. After all, it will be at least cute to hear his alibi for his slip on the schedule._

* * *

Time: 11:47 A.M.

Actual Accorded time: 10:00 A.M.

Nobody would recommend driving under the influence of stressed nerves, loads of sweat and still needing some rest after sleeping through the morning, yet here we have Greg Universe and his van on a rush towards the opposite corner of Beach City. _Wouldn't be my worst case of tardiness, though I really shouldn't get used to this._ The streets and people of the town were little more than a blur to him as he took the final turn and saw the open storage facility in the distance and a slash of ivory and cyan in it. Greg tried to think about what to tell Pearl, maybe an excuse or just hope for the best with honesty while he slowed to a halt near the facility. As he walked out of the van, he was met by his favorite voice:

"Hello Greg! Good to see you here at last, though you seem a bit… shaken." She said noticing his sweat and somewhat heavy breathing. "What happened?"

"Hi Pearl! Nothing too bad, just a fear of disappointing the brightest gem in the cosmos."

Pearl blushed for a moment before retorting:

"Umm… thanks. But seriously, you're drenched in sweat and you were going way over the speed limit. Did something happen in the way?"

 _Huh, that didn't really work._

"I overslept again. And I didn't want to try your patience like this so I just came here as fast as possible."

"Well that's a relief, I thought you were being chased or attacked before coming, and with your smell of sweat, I don't know if that would surprise me." _An admirable attempt to tease me, but it won't work this time._ "Besides, as you can see I had my hands full with ordering the objects here for the whole morning up until now, and all that is left is for you to see what stays here, what goes into your van and what will be disposed or given to Amethyst. Well, except for that box but I'm pretty sure that will go into your van."

Pearl gazed towards a small box next to a mattress, which Greg instantly recognized as the one he used to store his favorite books in when he started going on the road, to which Pearl presented: "At first I thought of just placing it along the rest of your "household" items immediately, but I could use a break after working on this all morning, so I was wondering if I could borrow a few of these?"

"Oh! Feel free to do so, and after today's drive I think some slowing down is in order for me." Greg assured as he reached for the box and took out a pretty thick book very familiar to him: it was months since he even saw it, but his star-studded bookmark was still in its rightful place, even if it was covered in dust, and then he laid down on the mattress. " _Galaxy Travels: The Last Echo,_ it's been a while."

* * *

As Pearl sat down on the mattress next to Greg, she began flipping through the pages of the first book she grabbed: the dust covered the pages of a book filled with songs for guitar, many of which seemed simple enough compared to what Greg played. The most interesting aspect to this book however, was the scribbles in the corners or above the tabs:

 _Practice stability._

 _Work on finger positioning._

 _Uneven Medley._

It didn't take long for Pearl to notice that this was a basic book for beginners, used with what was most probably a music teacher or tutor, which led Pearl to inquire:

"Greg, how long ago you started playing music?"

For a moment, Pearl could have sworn that he saw a melancholic smile on his face as he recalled something. She wondered if she really saw it as Greg almost immediately replaced that with his usual flair: "Let's just say there's a reason why I'm often called Star Child."

"Well, did you at least have some sort of tutor?"

"I'm guessing you found my old _Guitar Essentials and Classic_ s book right? School teacher, encouraged me to join the Music Club but she was also really demanding of my skills, and that's not to mention her temper, oh boy! I honestly don't know if my music would be better off without her, but I give her points for not giving up on any of us."

 _And that makes two of them and two of us._

"Well, looking at you and your music right now, I'll guess she did a pretty good job while teaching you."

Had Pearl not been focused on a melody she found in the book, she would have noticed Greg's face take a slight tint of red. As it is, Greg just returned to his book, while Pearl took a look at some more pages of the manual for a moment. She hummed a few melodies of the book, noticing they were simplified versions of songs she heard decades ago when she went with the Gems on an outing organized by Rose to get closer to humanity… which she would rather not remember considering that it led to a chain of events leading to building the fence on their temple. _Okay Pearl, time to move on._ Pearl thought, burying that memory deep into the farthest corners of her gem and putting the book back into the box. _Let's see what we have here…_ " _The Sea Guardian?" Wait… why does that look like…?"_

The next book she pulled was thin, highly illustrated with cool, sea-like colors and had its title in a delicate yet bold font. Garnet enjoyed reading these from time to time, while Amethyst took inspiration from these to create new forms to shift into. _I think these were called… Comic Books? It's been a while since I saw any of these._ Below it was a human girl in casual clothes with blue hair flying through the night sky with wings forged from water. A blurry view of the clouds and sea around her and her open frown indicated that she was in a hurry. _"It all comes down to this!"_ it read in the lower left corner. _Well I'm clearly in the dark on what "comes down to this". Let's see by how much… "Issue #47, June 1982"._

"Hey, I didn't think you were one to enjoy Superhero stories!" Greg exclaimed out of the blue.

"Oh, no, I just know about them. Amethyst and Garnet enjoy these from time to time, but I personally never read them. I just noticed something familiar about the character in the cover."

"Well, there's no soul in this country that has never heard of The Sea Guardian and her conflict against her enemies but most tragically, against her own past." Greg narrated remembering a trailer about her movie adaptation. "She's a worldwide sensation!"

"Actually, that's not what I meant. Let me see if I understand this: she's a human girl, who has a blue bracelet resembling a cut from blue gems, who does not only fly with water wings but can control the seas of the world with little effort."

"She's also millennia old technically, but she's been asleep for over 4000 years."

Pearl recalled how humans in the later stages of the war witnessed the feats of gemkind: their architecture, their appearance, but most notably their powers. As time went by, the stories of Gems became the equivalent of a mythological legend, and thus they were often immortalized in different cultures. No doubt the author of this book took inspiration from texts and artwork that showcased a particular kind of gem.

"Greg, either this is a gigantic coincidence, or the creator of this character used gems as a basis for her."

Greg jumped from his seat at the moment that Pearl ended her statement, making no effort to contain his surprise:

"No way! I mean, I know you gems are all magical and stuff, but flying with water and moving the entire sea?"

"Oh, no, they move all of the oceans in a planet." Pearl's gem shone as it demonstrated one of the rarest civilian gems in Homeworld:

"This is a Lapis Lazuli. They are rare civilian gems that are often found on gem courts, but they could be called upon in order to move water on other planets."

Greg's eyes shone at the hologram in front of him. It was similar to the heroine everyone knew, but her skin was completely blue and wore a long, blue dress rather than Aqua's casual wear consisting of her shirt, a jacket and her jeans. Suddenly, the "Lapis" shone and grew water wings, establishing the similarities even more before the image disappeared.

"Woah. Wait… could that mean more superheroes could be based on other gems?"

Pearl let out a chuckle before answering:

"Well, humans were impressed from the very beginning with the mystery and power of gemkind, so I think I'll be on the lookout."

It was at this point that Pearl realized she had not even flipped the cover.

"Oh right! Greg, could you explain what's "going down" in this chapter?" She said with a forced smile.

"Oh, that's one long, epic saga involving friendship, betrayal and loss, but if I recall correctly, an ancient being known as Gaeos, Aqua's enemy who sealed her millennia ago, has enacted a ritual that will tear apart the tectonic plates of the Earth, and in that cover, Aqua is racing towards the temple where she awakened to use her powers to stop him, yet she must confront and defeat him alone in order to save the world. I think that should be enough background for you since I don't have any other issues from stories previous to this one, since I had to sell them at one point."

"Well, that sounds kind of bizarre, but I think I can get behind that."

The rest of the book was also illustrated, with small circles of text displaying the dialogue and providing narration for the reader. _Well, I guess there's a certain charm to these books, the drawings are pretty good and one can follow the action much better like this, though it does leave a lot to be desired when it comes to dialogues and writing compared to a more conventional book._ She finished the comic and stored it back in their small library for the day. _Speaking of more conventional books, now there's something I did not expect to see here._

…

"In page 13-17, one of the witnesses of the murder, Argol Munes, seems to have all the obvious and tiresome signs that he's going to be the murdered: he does his best to withhold information from the police while still saying what they need to hear, giving contradicting information with the crime scene, and being very uncooperative with the authorities. In fact, I believe that he ends up being framed for the murder eventually considering the talks in the department. That being said, there are hints that he may be related to the crime, but he was definitely not the murderer. Not only does he have a solid reason to be at the scene in time for the crime, being a janitor on the night shift but he has no proven connection whatsoever to the victim! In fact, I think he's just a sock puppet for another person, possibly even in the police force. In fact, I believe the culprit might be none other than the rookie in the force, Adan Tomru. Not only is he shown to be more intelligent than he lets on, there's the fact that he does have a grudge with the victim, Richard Dorrin, since he was the one who decided to throw him into this small town rather than giving him a job in Empire City. He is also shown to bore rapidly in the town, and he greatly admires his senior who has used violence when necessary in previous encounters."

"And you got this from the first two chapters?"

"Pretty impressive if I say so myself." Pearl said with a smirk.

"Well, this is why we read through the whole thing before jumping to conclusions." Greg responded with a smirk of his own as he saw Pearl's confidence disappear from her face to give way to confusion.

"What do you mean…?"

"Chapter 4, page 137."

…

"They did a DNA test on him that late into the investigation?" Pearl said with a huff. "Well, there goes that theory, I guess I'll just finish this some other day."

The next book stood out even more than "The Sea Guardian", having a varied color palette and a pretty interesting cover: A giant, green being reminiscent of a human female in figure was clad in a reddish pink, looking away from the cover into an unknown object. Notably, her left eye had a patch in it and her hand brandished a sort of primitive blaster gun. A man laid seemingly unconscious on her other two arms, dressed in a torn, white shirt and tight black leg wear. The peculiar image was crowned by a title that would confirm to any person familiar with modern literature that this was probably best not shown to the kids: _Passions of Xanxor._

… _I insist: Humans really like to pretend to be part of something bigger than themselves._

…

Page 33.

 _BUT THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT! OH MY STARS WHAT IS THIS?_

The worst part about it all was that so far, it seemed to be a pretty interesting novel about the struggles a human would have establishing a relationship with a being from another world who had her own war to fight. It even reminded her of some of her former comrades who actually fell for humans like Rose did, which led to tragedy or were at best bittersweet. And then Page 33 happened, where the acts described in it could only be defined to Pearl as _"A sort of Fusion, but far more grotesque, apparently minimally violent, and lasts for much longer_." Pearl closed the book and put it back on the box as the cyan raced through her face… before noticing that Greg was unable to hold his laughter at the recent turn of events.

"Greg! What was that all about? I mean, that's yours, isn't it? Is literature like that normal for humans?" Still trying to quell his laughter, Greg replied:

"Well, you could say so. You have lived for over 5000 years here and you never once heard of Adult Novels?"

"Wait. Is that what… oh… Oh. I think Rose has heard of these, and not only that, she might actually enjoy them, which would explain a lot actually."

"Huh. Well, they are well written and at least for us humans it is… enjoyable to read those scenes you just screamed at. That's mostly because we actually do reproduce as you know and… well… that's kinda how we do so, minus the whole "Amazonian Green Alien" thing, that's usually a female woman."

 _Huh, so it is kind of like fusion in that it creates a whole new being. Not sure if that's gross or just alien to us._

Pearl had many questions in her mind, but she just decided to forget about the book for the time being and stored it back. The last book that caught her attention was titled "Everything to know about the Universe (and how to survive it)." _Oh, now that's just cute. Humans really like to try to see beyond what they know, don't they? Just recently they arrived on the moon and now they are narrating about the entire universe. Well, it should at least be worth a look._

* * *

"Umm… Pearl? You there?"

"Wha-! Greg, don't scare me like that!"

"Sorry for popping your bubble, but we're kinda behind schedule."

"How much?"

"Well… it's already nighttime. 7:13 PM to be exact."

Indeed, the stars shone in the dark, blue sky. Neither had even noticed time go by as they got lost in their respective books, as what was supposed to be a short break for Pearl and Greg extended to the entire afternoon and now the evening. Pearl struggled to keep an uneasy smile for a while.

"Sorry about that, but that book. I guess I got lost on how much some of the concepts mentioned there... they remind me of the past."

"The past?"

"Oh, like you don't remember how we gems came from space." Pearl replied, with a small tint of sass to her voice. _Well, two can play that kind of game._

"Really? When were you planning to tell me that?" Greg teased, to which Pearl laughed before standing up. "We should get started here, your things might be ordered, but you still got to decide what to keep here, place in the van, or throw."

"Sure! Well, as much as I would like to have all the instruments and audio equipment around, they would probably take too much space on the van. I think I'll keep the heavier stuff here."

Pearl smirked in satisfaction before adding:

"I guessed you would say that, so I separated the instruments and audio equipment, along your props and lights into different sections. Also, do you really need those old lamps anywhere? Maybe Amethyst or Rose would appreciate those…"

Stars illuminated the night sky at its darkest when Greg loaded the garbage bag into the van. The storage now housed everything Greg needed to setup their "concerts", while the only objects to go into the van were some instruments, the boxed library, and the framed photos they took back at Funland, while also temporarily housing some giant plastic bags that contained everything that was going to be disposed or given to Amethyst. Late-night talks had pretty much become a habit for both of them, just a couple of months after they first met. Tonight was no exception as they sat on a small place on the back of the van.

"Phew, I'm beat after all that. Thanks for helping me out here, else this would still be a disaster."

"Don't think too highly of it, it was enjoyable to fix this mess, and I must say I did not expect to actually get distracted with those books you had there."

"Oh yeah, I forgot to ask you something."

"Sure, what is it?"

"Well, you mentioned that the last novel you read reminded you of the past."

"Yes. Well, if you want elaboration of that then know that we gems come not simply from another planet: most of us were born in another galaxy, close enough to be seen from here, but far enough to still be millions of light years away."

"Well, I guess most galaxies are that far away from Earth after all… wait, I can see your galaxy from here?"

"I think you can, but only on certain parts of the year… actually, let me check something." With that, Pearl stood up and examined the night sky. She made some shapes with her hand, doubtlessly how she examined the cosmos when she had no tools at her disposal, before her eyes widened and ran back towards Greg.

"Greg! Come, look!" Pearl exclaimed before clenching Greg's hand with her own and dragging him towards her previous position. "Now, look up to the sky. From there, you should see a star with a prominent purple glow."

"Uhhh… I think I got it" Greg said, still blushing from having Pearl holding his hand all along. Despite being according to Pearl, just a sort of Hologram with mass, her small hand still felt decidedly human, soft yet warm. Delicate, but still with the grip one would expect from a millennia-old knight. _I just can't never stop falling in love more with such a girl, can't I?_

"Of course, there's no way you could miss it. Now, up from there you should see a smaller, parallel red star that also glows intensely."

"Oh, did you actually mean the Dragon's eyes? That's what we call those since they always seem to be gazing towards us. Yeah, nobody could ever miss them!"

"That's an interesting name you humans gave to those, but regardless, those stars are part of the farthest arm from the Gem's home galaxy. I still remember the years when I and many others came towards Earth, we saw so many incredible worlds on the way and traveled through unknown skies filled with wonder. You paint a really beautiful picture of space with your songs, but seeing the stars, nebulas and comets up close, it really was something amazing."

"Well, with all those memories, I'm surprised that you seem ok with staying here for the last 6000 years."

Pearl's face took on a somber expression for a moment as she contemplated the stars before turning back towards Greg, who felt his hand being gripped once more:

"It's hard to not feel trapped or stuck in here, but I think the Earth, as a planet, has a beauty all of its own. Space was beautiful, but it was cold and unwelcoming, which could also be said of the people I met before coming to Earth. Once I arrived, I met gems who also felt that from our home, and we instead decided to stay in the warm, welcoming Earth. You could say that's how we, the Crystal Gems, decided to break away from home and stay here to fight for this young planet." By now, Pearl's frown had given way to a tender smile, the one that Greg always loved to watch along her blue eyes. "Besides, even if I could somehow go back to Space, I think I'd rather stay here on Earth with you."

 _My stars, it is so easy to get him completely flustered like this._

Just when Greg thought he could finally recover his cool tonight, he was suddenly left speechless once more by Pearl. For all he knew, she could mean him and the gems, or him with the rest of the Earth, but Greg stood paralyzed for a moment until Pearl giggled at him and let go of his hand.

"I won't be able to see you tomorrow, we have a mission all the way to the East Ocean, but I hope I can see you soon." With this, Greg was finally able to recover and replied:

"Don't you worry about it; you know I'll be waiting."

"Of course you will. Well, I'll be looking forward to it." With that, Pearl strutted into the night while Greg went into the van, looking forward to a night where he could actually sleep free of worries… until he turned on the radio for the night's news:

" _As winter approaches Beach City, an unprecedented snowfall approaches from the north from our neighbors in the Rocky States. It is suggested that all residents prepare for the coming storm, since it is estimated that the temperature will lower drastically for the next 2 days."_

 _Oh boy._

* * *

And here's Storage Library, an even more scrapped and rewritten chapter than Jam Session. It took me a while to feel comfortable with the quality of this one, but I hope you enjoyed it. It seems like date chapters are a bit of a weakness with me when it comes to my confidence in writing these, but the next two chapters should shake up things a bit. I'm sorry for how delayed this chapter was, my mood sunk for the last week or two, and real life did not make things any easier. I hope to get the next chapter out before the end of the month but once again, it will be ready when it is ready.

With that said, thanks for following our Song for a Sea Lady, all feedback appreciated.

 _-InazumaFrost, thinks himself a perfectionist but not quite._

PS. Thanks for over 3,000 views! I really never expected to get this large an audience so soon!

Hey, look at all those delays!  
Sorry about being unable to update this fanfic for the last month, life has been quite a ride lately and writing became harder due to it. It will be ready when it is ready, but I'm still working on it!


	6. Paradigm Shift

"Wait, _Rainbow Quartz?!_ "

"Don't you think it would be a nice extra for today's video?"

"Well, Greg would definitely love it now that you mention it, and it has been quite a while since we formed her."

"So, is that a-"

"Everybody Ready?"

The whispering between the two Crystal Gems was interrupted as Greg finished setting up the camera for the tape, oblivious to the surprise awaiting him, while Pearl was able to quickly confirm to Rose:

"On my cue."

The stage was decorated in clear tiles along the cave's floor and illuminated by soft cyan lights, reflecting on the Gems onstage. A few weeks ago, such a setup would have been nearly impossible to set up by trying to pass the equipment through, over, or sometimes even under the fence, much to Greg's dismay, but eventually Amethyst took care of that detail in exchange for some popcorn. Tonight's song was a request from Rose: a poem she wrote some time ago to one of her human lovers, much to Pearl's dismay way back then. Such history was still hidden from Greg as he succeeded in turning it into a song with some input from the original author and Pearl, still retaining the original title: "What can I do for you."

 _Well, looks like Greg will learn about fusion sooner than I expected. I just hope he doesn't take it the wrong way._

"One, Two, Three, Four!"

* * *

Greg was unsure of what was more entrancing: Was it Pearl's beautiful visage illuminated by the cyan lights, her soft, melodious voice, or the words she was singing? Whatever it was, Greg's gaze was firmly locked on the Gem as his muscle memory through rehearsal did the rest of the work for him. For once, his focus onstage was away from the music he played, the lyrics he sang in unison, or the space all around him, and instead fixed on one star in his band. A small cheer from Garnet snapped him out of his loop though, just in time to remember his part:

 _Oh yeah, the solo is coming a few lines. Alright Universe, time for your star to shine!_

After a few loops of the main lyric, Greg averted his gaze and focused on his music once more. The solo was not as focused on skill as it was on timing and spacing of the notes and chords, not to mention long. _Man, I might be hogging the spotlight a bit too much, I should have thought of something else after this for the ending._ Once again, his solo was at a stage where he could play without his full focus, so he shifted his sight back to the band, to find an unexpected sight: Pearl and Rose stood at opposite sides of the stage and began to approach each other while dancing, with Rose doing a simple, elegant dance while Pearl showcased her flexibility though movements resembling ballet, though far beyond the scope Greg had ever known of. _Is it even possible to even move your leg like that?!_ Once they met, Rose held Pearl as she continued to dance, spinning in her arms until she halted in an embrace. Rose then dipped Pearl, who opened her eyes to meet with Greg's, followed by an excited, yet notably soft smile. _Wait, did they plan this for the video? Well, it was a beautiful dance but I don't know if I am- WAIT WHAT IS THAT?!_

In front of Greg's eyes, Pearl and Rose's bodies turned into light and "combined" into a form that was different from both, yet felt somewhat familiar to him. It was also really strange yet beautiful, something that one would see in album covers or comic books. The new gem had both Pearl and Rose's sets of eyes, which often showed different expressions; Pearl's set held a consistent enticing vibe, almost seducing, while Rose's set was more relaxed yet joyful. She was also huge, like at least 12 feet tall, still towering over Greg when she would crouch down towards him. Her attitude was also seething with confidence and teasing, as she danced for Greg, showcasing her shapely physique and combining the dancing style of her components into an energized, flexible choreography. _And here I was worried about taking too much spotlight, this is on a whole other level! … And my solo is falling apart. Eh, it was worth it, and I think I can still save it._

Indeed, some of the timing began falling apart when Rainbow Quartz formed, but Greg was still able to improvise something new as the fusion concluded the dance with a split atop the warp pad, after which the fusion once again became light and separated into the two gems Greg knew very well by now. With a spin, Pearl grabbed a Microphone, crouched down to Greg and sang one last line as the music faded out:

"This can I do, that no one else can do".

* * *

Pearl tried to maintain her smile towards Greg while he stood for a few seconds with an open mouth and wide eyes. _Ummm… Greg? Oh dear, did we overdo it? Was he not ready for-_

"I can't believe I got that on video, what on earth was that!?"

And there they were again, the spark on his eyes and his wide smile, all the approval she needed. Relaxing her smile, Pearl explained to the awestruck musician as he turned off the illumination system and started cleaning up the cave:

"I'm glad you liked it, Greg. That was a gem fusion called Rainbow Quartz, an amalgam of the characteristics of Rose and me. It could also be described as the ultimate bond between gems, as it requires mutual trust and understanding in order to create a stable fusion such as the one you just saw."

"Ultimate bond between Gems? What about humans? Can they fuse too?"

Pearl froze for a moment at the prompt, at a loss on what to say or do. Fusion involves the combination of two light bodies, so on a technical level it is impossible for humans to fuse with gems already. Even if for some reason humans could fuse with gems, would she be willing? Pearl enjoyed spending time with him and trusted him enough to talk with him about some of her emotions at times, but she was barely starting to understand Greg while trusting someone with her feelings was very different from trusting enough to become one, thus impeding a theoretical fusion.

 _How should I tell him? Have we ever even tried to fuse with a human? Of course not, that's a physical impossibility in every way…_

"I'd love to answer that right now, but I need to go. I suppose you will be available later tonight?" Pearl replied despite her own doubts, which pulled through as Greg changed his tone:

"You _know_ I will."

"Alright then, see you later Greg."

Pearl waved towards him before walking towards the door to the gem temple, still managing to hear Greg's goodbye as she left, which allowed her to let out one more laugh before entering her room.

The smile disappeared from her face almost immediately once she entered, replaced by a long sigh as she thought about today's events. No gem to her knowledge had ever tried to fuse with a human, but the concept was akin to trying to build a device capable of escaping a Black Hole: Last thing she knew, not even Homeworld had tried to build such a thing because it is widely considered to be impossible. Unlike such scenario though, this is at least possible to try, even if the gems knew it was futile.

 _It should be for the best to just tell him that it is impossible as a human, but I'm not sure how would he take that. Well, either that or try fusing with him, but that's just pointless._

Pearl leapt towards the leftmost waterfall in her room and stepped on to the center of it. She then stood for a moment before she summoned an item from the gem, this time without using her peculiar dance. This time, it was a copy of one of the photos she took with Greg back at Funland's photobooth; more specifically, it was their photo where Greg embraced Pearl with his right arm while she just looked at the camera with a shy expression. Greg did manage to get an extra copy of the photo after all. Pearl smiled once more remembering that strange day. _Well, he's been a good friend and an opportunity to know more about humans, but I don't know if I trust him enough to attempt to fuse with him, even we were somehow wrong for thousands of years and it is indeed possible for humans to fuse._

Pearl placed the photo back on her gem and decided to clear her mind for a while by summoning her swords from the waterfall and practicing some basic swordfighting. Eventually, Pearl heard some small splashes coming from the back of her room. She knew that besides the door of the temple, the only entrance was located on Rose's own room, as she could access any room from the temple through her own which often led to such unannounced visits, though about 5000 years of living with Rose allowed the gems to get used to the "surprise". Pearl turned towards the direction of the footsteps in the water and spotted her liege, Rose Quartz, a door to her room closing behind her. Upon being noticed, she flashed a smile and gracefully floated towards Pearl's waterfall to greet Pearl:

"Hi Pearl! I did not expect you to leave so early today. Anything or anyone on your mind?" Rose teased. After all, Pearl would often stay for at least an hour or two after they finished playing music, talking or polishing her and Greg's music, or spending time with the gems. Pearl gave Rose a slight smile as she replied:

"Nothing to worry about, but thanks for the thought. I guess they finished cleaning up outside?"

"Quite a while ago, yes. You should have stayed around, Greg said the funniest things about fusion!" Rose said while laughing.

 _Somehow I expected him to rein his curiosity until I came back. I've only got myself to blame here._

"Like what?" Pearl inquired, not sure if she wanted to know the answer.

"First he asked whether Humans could fuse with gems, and then when I told him it was impossible he asked if anyone had tried. And that's not all: I had to answer that in fact, nobody had ever tried, but he insisted on doing so! You really picked an interesting human to have as a friend, Pearl."

Pearl was expecting Greg to ask more about fusion considering how curious he was about gems, but she did not expect him to insist on trying after being told it was impossible. Not that it really changed anything though, it was still a fool's that, Pearl let out a sigh, followed by a sad smile.

"It really is futile, isn't it?"

"Well, I thought so too, but after a while, he put tonight's tape on repeat and began to imitate my dance. He probably got it down well, but he looked ridiculous doing so." Pearl gave a chuckle at the mental image of Greg dragging his jeans as if they were some sort of skirt. _Of course that wouldn't work, it just isn't… Greg._

"However, Garnet didn't seem find it to be funny. She and Amethyst went towards him, and at first they seemed to repeat what I said, but for some reason Amethyst ran off suddenly, leaving the two alone. I didn't manage hear what they were saying, but I think she was talking about how fusion works, considering she even took off her visor."

Now that was a curveball for Pearl. If there was anyone highly familiar with fusion, it was Garnet herself as a permafusion who would stay formed for decades at a time. She knew both the emotional and physical part of fusion perfectly, and most importantly she took the usage of fusion very seriously. _She can only be serious about this, but how?_ By now, Pearl's smile had disappeared once more, replaced by shock, doubt and somehow, relief.

"Rose, can we be sure that Garnet was actually talking about that? I mean, what if she was talking about his music, or maybe just wanted to tell him about Ruby and Sapphire? Or maybe she was just telling him again how it was not possible to achieve fusion, that could also be it, don't you think?"

Rose laughed quietly at Pearl's denial and gave her a smile. She had a kind look on her face once more compared to her more playful personality she had displayed so far today, a sight for sore eyes and a haven for the crystal gems. It was hard to not fall completely for such a sight, as Pearl could attest to for millennia, and until recently it was still hard for her to not get lost on her beauty.

 _I guess we both found something else eventually, one before the other._

Rose then spoke with a kind voice:

"Well, if Garnet does believe it might work, then who am I to say otherwise? Besides, I never thought I'd actually see the day you would befriend a human to the extent you have, you store silly photos of you with him, and he has made an effort to understand not necessarily gems in general; frankly I think he's still kinda lost on all of it, but he's at least trying to understand you. And that's ignoring all which you have not told us yet about you two! I might just find him fun and kind, but I think you don't just see him like that, do you?"

Pearl let out a smile before answering:

"I guess you could say so." With that, Pearl blushed while Rose giggled a bit, still trying to process how Pearl, someone so detached from humanity, had found herself befriending and possibly even falling for a human after all. Looks like the stars did align after all.

"I'm glad to see you like this, but I think someone might be waiting for you outside the temple, and you wouldn't want to leave him hanging."

"Of course not." Pearl responded as she made her way towards the door to the warp pad. "Oh, and thanks for talking with me Rose, I really needed it after all."

"I'm glad to help, and I hope it works out after all. Good luck!" Rose said as she went back to her room. _Well, at least I agreed to meet Greg later today, so there's no way out of this now. Just calm down and explain how fusion works, and if it comes to trying, there should be no problem in doing so._ Pearl stepped out into the grotto, noticing it was already night time. The warp pad stood alone in the cave, quiet and static, with only the sound of the waves echoing through the walls. The night sky was clear, with the moon reflecting its glow over the waves. She walked outside the cave to the beach surrounding it, when she noticed a new sight on the beach:

Greg's van was parked on the beach, a small distance away from the temple entrance and behind it was a platform, which seemed to have a plastic surface with wood planks underneath, reminiscent of the wall they put on for the video earlier. Greg has his back towards her, even if he seemed to notice her appearance, and sported a different look than usual: his hair was still messy but it seemed slicker than usual, and he wore a brown, leather jacket over his usual shirt, giving him a different, yet still fitting look for the rock musician. _Is all of this really necessary? Whatever Garnet told him must have come a bit more directly from Ruby and Sapphire because this is a bit excessive,_ Pearl thought as her face showed a bit of cyan. As she drew closer, Greg put on a record on his phonograph which started playing a slow, sweet tune previously unknown to Pearl. She took a small, calming breath, stepped onto the stage, and finally announced her arrival:

"I see you've been busy, Greg."

Without a word, Greg turned around and walked towards Pearl. Once he was in her range, he rose his arm to the height of his shoulder towards Pearl and opened his hand. Pearl followed suit and met her left hand with his, feeling his warm and gentle grip, first on her hand and then on her back, her cue to put her right hand on his shoulder. An expert on rhythmic movement, Pearl had no problem adapting her pace to this slow style, and followed her partner's slow steps. As the music continued, Pearl could feel her body getting warmer with each step, each perfectly matching the slow melody as it reached a bridge. A small change in their gaze was all both of them needed to know their next move, as Pearl separated her right hand from his shoulder and moved her body backwards, followed by Greg doing the same.

In that moment, the floor beneath them shone a bright white. Pearl's mouth opened in joyful surprise as she felt the shine below similar to that of the moon and stars above, and gazed back at Greg, the human who had built this dance floor just for the two of them. She never imagined that she would ever dance with a human, let alone try to fuse with one... and yet here she was, in perfect sync with Greg's steps, a strong appreciation and bond between them. She paid no heed to the fact that she was fooling herself as they resumed their dance. As the music reached its peak, she separated her arm once more, she closed her eyes, retracted her left leg and spun in place twice, then as she stopped, Greg held her waist with both hands and dipped forward as she leaned slowly backwards with her eyes still closed, when she suddenly felt a strange, yet comfortable sensation in her mouth. Her body felt ablaze in that moment, as she recognized the shape of the skin touching her mouth, and realized she was in middle of a tender kiss from Greg. This was a new experience for the gem, one that she cherished every moment, before being brought back to Earth as she opened her eyes, noticing a disappointed look in Greg's eyes.

"We didn't fuse."

Pearl's face grew dim and looked away in that moment as she realized, or maybe just confirmed to herself that she was fooling herself and Greg to a lesser degree. Fusion is linked to the light of a Gem, so there is no way it could ever work with an organic life form, and yet she futilely tried to believe it could work, their failure visible in their gazes. As the music continued, Pearl gently separated herself from Greg before replying:

"Greg, humans can't fuse. Fusion works because of the light body of a gem and the way our gemstones work, so humans and other living beings cannot fuse at all. I should've just told you back then."

"Well, not much I can do about that, but why did you try to fuse with me despite that?"

Pearl looked back at Greg with a defeated look and replied:

"I'm not so sure myself. I just thought trying would make you happy, and maybe we could just forget about that after all." Pearl replied before realizing her mistake.

 _Oh._

Greg didn't seem to take the answer very well as his face changed into a very uneasy smile, before he spoke up again.

"Pearl… these months have been great but I don't know if you actually respect me… you know, as a person."

She already had realized this epiphany before Greg even spoke, but she did not expect him to realize this. For all the fun, music and talks they shared, Pearl realized she had not seen Greg as an individual. Instead, she saw a reflection of herself, an opportunity to give him what Pearl had not received thousands of years ago: a reciprocated, romantic love. Her feelings eventually changed, but her approach did not. She tried to right wrongs that she never actually did, and in doing so she today came off as insincere.

What was even worse is that after all this time, Pearl still did not know how to treat humans as equals.

"… I'm so sorry, I don't know… how is this supposed to work?" Pearl asked in shame and confusion. She didn't expect a favorable reaction from Greg, but what happened next was unexpected.

"Oh boy, you really are an alien." He barely said as he laughed… and then cried? Sobbed? Pearl was even more confused now, not knowing what to make of Greg's current state. In the end, she also shed a few tears in defeat before admitting:

"We're both really lost here, aren't we? How are we going to make this work?"

"Let's just… talk."

Pearl didn't expect such a simple answer, but it was also relieving to hear such an answer as they locked themselves into a soft embrace, their heads resting on each other's shoulders before Greg begun.

* * *

"What's fusion to you?"

"Same answer as before."

"I really rushed that out, didn't I?"

"We both rushed it."

"Do you… miss your home planet?"

"I wish I didn't."

 _Guess I shouldn't press that button for now._

"How did you meet Zenyatta and Mondatta?"

"Wait, who… you mean Amethyst and Garnet?" She asked before noticing the rest of the gems hidden behind the hand-shaped rock in the beach. _Real sneaky, you three._ "I think that's one for another day."

"Have you ever… loved someone else?"

"I'm guessing you have."

"Yes."

"Yes."

"Have you ever been… in love?"

For a moment, Pearl remembered those days long past. Her past battles, her fight for freedom, the friends she had, but most of all she remembered those days where she had met Rose only recently. Her beauty, her kindness, her charisma and leadership, all reasons any gem would follow Rose Quartz. She remembered this feeling called love all too well, unfortunately.

"Maybe. How would you know?"

"It feels like the worst kind of torture."

"Yes."

"Yes."

"Is this… torture right now?"

"You have no idea."

"Actually, I think I have."

The two broke their embrace, and flashed wide smiles towards each other. They had actually found a link between gems and humans.

"Pearl, what do you mean by that?" Greg said with his confident tone as if his worries were suddenly carried away by the realization.

"Come on, Mr. Universe! I guess I really need to say it out loud, don't I? Well… you could say that I love you." _Never thought I would be saying that to anyone else other than Rose. These have been some interesting months, to say the least._

Greg scoffed at this, trying his best to hold back his blush and shock at actually hearing this after what felt to him like an eternity and a day at the same time.

"Pfft, I already knew that. After all, no one can resist the Universe. Wait here, I think I have something new here." Greg said before going back to the van and checking his vinyl collection. _Let's see, movie soundtracks, Orange Magic Orchestra… aha! There it is!_ He took out an album which showcased a man in a suit holding an apple at the front, with 4 faceless people below a dead tree with the full moon on the background. _To imagine such a bleak looking album would have such relaxed tunes._ With that, Greg took out " _An Endless Romance: Original Soundtrack"_ from the disc player as the tune died out, and put on " _The Philosophy Majors: Nietzsche's Breakdown"._

"Well, Pearl, would you give me one last dance for the night?" Greg said, extending his hand towards a blushing Pearl, who giggled at his attempt to sound more elegant, before replying:

"It would be an honor, Greg."

One last dance would mark a new start for the two of them, and they couldn't be possibly happier about it.

* * *

They heard it all, and saw some of it. Behind a conveniently placed hand-shaped rock laid Garnet, Amethyst and Rose Quartz. As Amethyst was doing her best to contain her laughter, Rose couldn't help but ask one thing to the fusion besides her:

"Well Garnet, what do you say? Did they fuse or did they not?"

"You bet they did."

"Never expected and Pearl would get such a cool one first."

"… Neither did I."

Looking at the sky, she could find a peculiar constellation pointing down at the Earth: what humans called "Orion's Belt" shone in a straight line towards the land below. She recalled the first night they saw Greg, a human looking for a mysterious girl that first captured his attention, then his affection, and eventually his genuine love. The girl took a bit longer to come around, but now Rose found herself looking forward to what this new couple would bring in the future.

 _You actually did it, Pearl._

* * *

 **I LIVE.**

 **Well, these months couldn't have been more eventful even if I wanted them to be. This was… a massive delay caused by rewrites, revisions, and most of all life only allowing me to work in paragraphs per week. School, holiday invitations, and shifts in priorities are all to blame for this.**

 **Oh, and the pressure of having an increasing viewerbase and a TV Tropes fanfic rec. Don't know if I should be happy that so many people like my work, or if I should be worried for the increasing standards I put on myself. It was hard to write this chapter at times, but I hope you guys like it. I can't believe my fanfic has gotten this much attention and I hope to see you guys for the next chapter. I also wanted to thank my beta reader for giving me feedback on this chapter.**

 **No promises or time window for this one (remember when I thought this chapter would be out by December 15** **th** **? Ha, never again.), but it will be released. I'll not work on it at all for this entire month since it is my final month of homeschool work and there's a ton to be done, but once that's finished I'll begin work on the next chapter. Again, thanks for reading my fanfic and leave any feedback or thoughts you might have.**

 **-InazumaFrost**


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